The Walking Dead 2
by Pandamore
Summary: The group have escaped the CDC and is back on the road, but their problems are far from over. Things have changed between Cricket and Daryl, their relationship growing more every day, while Nate must now deal with the consequences of his mistakes. Who will survive and who will perish?
1. Cast

Kate Beckinsale as Cricket

Jeffrey DeMunn as Dale Horvath

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon

Alex Pettyfier as Nathaniel Dixon

Emma Bell as Amy Harrison

Laurie Holden as Andrea Harrison

Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier

Madison Lintz as Sophia Peletier

Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes

Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes

Sarah Wayne Callies as Lori Grimes

Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh

Irone Signleton as T-Dog

Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene

Emily Kinney as Beth Greene

Scott Wilson as Hershel Greene

Jane McNeill as Patricia

James Allen McCune as Jimmy

Pruitt Taylor Vince as Otis

Michael Zegen as Randall Culver


	2. One

Cricket closes her eyes, her face resting against Daryl's back as they ride on his motorcycle. Nate is riding in the rv with Amy and her sister. Cricket is tired, they just left the CDC and things in the group are shaky. Members were lost and now they are forced to try and get to Fort Benning to look for a better place. "Do you think it'll be safe?" Cricket whispers in Daryl's ear, resting her chin on his shoulder.

Things between Cricket and Daryl have improved a lot. The two are more open to each other, while it confuses the group due to them not knowing what has changed since being at the CDC, it causes Daryl to be happy though because he was never one for the attention. "I don't know." Daryl says over the roar of the motorcycle. "Hopefully." Cricket nods as she looks ahead to see a traffic jam.

"Daryl?"

"We can get around this."

"Can everyone else?"

"Yeah, hold on." She holds on tighter as Daryl turns the bike around and starts for the rv. Dale isn't too keen on Cricket riding with Daryl nor how close the two are, but since the CDC Dale has come to see the better side of Daryl and is more trusting towards him when it comes to the safety of his daughter.

"See a way through?" Dale asks as Daryl pulls up beside the rv. Daryl glances back at the cars before nodding to Dale and motioning for him to follow them. Daryl turns the bike back around and heads forward again.

"Take it slow, Daryl, I want to make sure my dad can drive through." Cricket tells him before glancing back as the RV follows.

"There's enough room, Cricket." Daryl says, his hand dropping to her exposed thigh before going back to the handle bar. Cricket is dressed in shorts and a tank top due to the hot summer air. Her hair is pulled back in a pony tail with a clip to keep it from blowing in the wind and because it's too hot on her neck.

"It's like a graveyard." Cricket whispers to Daryl, her arms tightening around him. He drops his hand on her hand, squeezing it in comfort before rubbing it. She sighs and rests her chin back on his shoulder just as something begins sputtering behind them, causing her to jump.

"Easy, jumpy." Daryl says as she turns to see her father's RV's hose broke again.

"Shit, dad's hose broke again." Daryl groans as he slows the bike down and parks it.

"Just fucken great." He grumbles before getting off the bike with Cricket.

"Go easy on him, that RV is the last thing he has left for a memory of the old world." She says to him before starting over to her father.

"Dead in the water." She hears him say.

"Problem, Dale?" Shane questions as Cricket walks over.

"Can you fix it?" She asks, rubbing a hand on her dad's arm.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-" Daryl rolls his eyes and moves to a car near by to search it. "Okay, that was dumb." Cricket smiles and kisses his cheek.

"We all have those moments, dad."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane trails off as Daryl pulls out a pack of smokes.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl says as Cricket moves to him. He glances at her and nods before going back to searching.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog says as Cricket grabs a bag from the car and turns to Sophia.

"Maybe some water." Carol says.

"Or food." Glenn adds.

"Hey, Sophia, this looks like something you'd like. You can help carry supplies." She says as she walks over to the young girl, who smiles brightly at the prospect of helping the group.

"Sure, Cricket! I would love to help." Cricket smiles before motioning her to turn around before helping her get the pack on and making sure it fit right.

"How about you help me out and carry the supplies I find, as long as it's okay with you, Carol." Cricket says, causing the older woman to smile.

"I don't mind. If she can be of help..." Cricket nods and smiles at Sophia before standing.

"This is a graveyard." Cricket smile drops as she hears Lori. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"Lori, I get where you're coming from, I mean it's awful to say this, but they're gone now and we need to keep surviving ourselves or we'll end up like them. If I was them I would want others to benefit from my things. I wouldn't want others to die. We need these things, you understand?" Cricket says, causing Lori to give her a hard look.

"Alright, alright, here we go." T-Dog says as he heads off after Cricket's words.

"I agree with Cricket." Glenn says before he too heads off.

"Come on, y'all, just look around, gather what you can." Shane says as Cricket looks at Carol.

"So, you say it's okay if Sophia helps Daryl and I with gathering supplies?"

"Just please keep an eye on her for me." Carol says, causing Cricket to smile.

"Don't worry, Carol, I'll keep an eye on her like she's my own."

"Thank you." She nods and takes Sophia's hand before following after Daryl.

"Here, let me." She takes the pile of things from Daryl and puts them inside Sophia's bag. "Just let me know when the bag gets too heavy, okay, sweetie?" Sophia nods and Cricket opens another car door. "Hey, Sophia, did you need any new clothes?"

"I'm gonna help T-Dog with the gas." Daryl says, causing Cricket to glance over at him.

"Okay."

"Don't stray to far." Daryl says, his hand brushing hers. She smiles at him, her hand taking his.

"I won't. Is there anything you need?"

"Nah." She nods, laying a gentle kiss to his knuckles, causing red to flush up his neck as she lets go of his hand.

"Call if you need anything." He nods before heading down the road.

"Are you and Daryl in love?" Cricket laughs as she hears Sophia's question.

"I don't know, hun, Daryl... well he's hard to read sometimes, but he's a good guy. Did you say yes to needing new clothes?"

"I wouldn't say no." Cricket smiles and pulls out some clothes from the trunk of the car and packs it into Sophia's bag. "Do you love Daryl?" Cricket crinkles up her nose before looking at Sophia.

"Not sure, it's still kind of early to tell." Sophia nods as they carry on down the road.

"Will you ever start a family?" Cricket chuckles and looks down at the girl.

"You ask a lot of questions.

"Sorry." Sophia looks down, as if feeling ashamed of it, causing Cricket to crouch down to her.

"Don't ever be sorry for having a curious mind. You shouldn't be afraid to say what you want, just know when to say them and when not to." Sophia nods as she looks at Cricket.

"My daddy never let me ask anything or say too much."

"Well, your daddy isn't around anymore Sophia and I know it's hard, but he can't hurt you anymore and he can't control you. Don't feel the need to be quiet on my account. You can ask me anything you want, I don't mind. As for your question, I don't know. I love kids, but..." Her eyes found Daryl and found him listening to their conversation. Cricket smiles his way. "In this world raising children isn't easy and I'm not sure Daryl nor I could handle it, but like I said it's way too early to think about such things with Daryl." Cricket tells Sophia.

"I always wanted a sibling." Sophia says.

"How about this, if Daryl and I ever do get to that serious of point then I am pointing you as the child's rightful sister." Sophia smiles a huge smile as Cricket says this.

"Thank you, Cricket." Cricket smiles and kisses her forehead before the two carry on.

Cricket opens another trunk and finds a small located in it. "Hey, Sophia, I'm going to ask your mom about this later, but what do you say about carrying? That way you're always protected." Sophia's eyes widen as she sees the small knife. "Just be very careful with it, it's no toy." She nods and takes it, folding it up and pocketing it. "Remember, use when you need to." She nods as Daryl whistles, causing Cricket to glance over.

"Get under the cars." He whispers, she frowns before hearing the faint moans.

"Sophia, look at me." She turns and looks at Cricket as she says this. "You have to stay right by me, there's walkers." Sophia grows pale as she stares at Cricket with great fear. "We're going to climb under the car and we'll be safe, follow me." Cricket crawls under the car and Sophia follows after her.

Cricket wraps her arms around Sophia as they watch the walkers go by. "Stay quiet and still. It'll be okay." Cricket whispers in the girl's ear as the two stay perfectly still. Sophia close her eyes, tears running down them as she tries to remain calm. Cricket takes even breaths as they watch the heard pass by.

"Carol!" Sophia squirms, but Cricket hold tightens on her.

"Don't, she'll be okay." Cricket crawls in time to see Carol get cornered by the walkers, which forces her to take off in the woods. Cricket holds Sophia back as she sees Rick chase after her.

"No! Mama!"

"Sophia, you can't go after her. You'll get hurt, Rick will bring her back." Sophia cries as Cricket picks her up and wraps her arms around. "It's okay, just breath. It'll be okay." Daryl hurries over to them.

"Are you okay? You bit or scratched?" Cricket shakes her head as she holds the sobbing girl.

"I'm fine, Carol ran off into the woods with walkers chasing her. Rick went after her." Daryl glances to the woods as Cricket rocks Sophia.

"Shhh, it's okay, darling, just relax. Your mom will be okay. Rick will bring her back. She'll be okay." She glances at Daryl before starting over to the group.

"Why did Carol get out from the cars so early?" Cricket asks as she rocks the young girl.

"She didn't know where Sophia was." Glenn explains.

"I had her, she was helping me with supplies. I made sure she was beside me when the walkers past through."

"Carol wasn't thinking straight, she panicked. She thought the walkers were gone and she wanted to find Sophia." Lori says, causing Cricket to frown as she holds onto Sophia.

"How is she?" Lori asks.

"Upset, very upset. She's afraid for her mom, but she'll be okay." Cricket rocks Sophia as the girl clings to her. Rick comes back soon after she says that, but she's alone.

"Where's my mama?" Sophia asks, her voice shaking. Rick whispers to Daryl and Shane, causing them to glance at Sophia and nodding.

"Don't worry, Sophia, we're going back out there." Rick says before leading Daryl, Shane, and Glenn out with him.

"I'm bringing Sophia into the RV, dad." Cricket says before she heads into the RV, laying Sophia down on the bed. "Sophia, look at me." The girl looks up at Cricket with a fearful expression. "They will find her, but for now you need to remain calm and get some rest." Sophia nods as she closes her eyes. "Do you want me to sing a lullaby that my daddy used to sing to me during thunderstorms?"

"Do you not like thunderstorms?"

"Nah, I hate them. How about it. I'll sing until you feel better?" Sophia nods and Cricket lays down beside her, gently singing a soft tune to the girl, before she drifts to sleep. Their nightmares are only growing worst.


	3. Two

Nate walks over to Amy, a hand rubbing her back as she searched the vehicle. "Hey," Nate says as he kisses her temple.

"I feel so bad for Sophia. Do you think Carol's alright?" Amy turns to Nate, a sad look on her face filled with worry.

"My dad's out there, Amy. Ain't no way my dad will give up on finding her. My dad maybe a rough guy, but he'll do anything to protect people." Amy nods as she wraps her arms around Nate.

"Nate, if I was her would you look for me?" Nate wraps his arms around her and buries his face into her neck.

"I would always come look for you." She smiles and looks up at him. He leans down, just before she pushes him back, causing him to stumble and fall on his ass. "What the hell, Amy?" Amy turns and begins to puke, causing Nate to scurry onto his feet. "Shit, Amy, you okay?" He holds her hair back as she pukes.

"Nate- Whoa, Amy?" Cricket walks over and nudges Nate out of the way as she holds Amy's hair instead and begins to rub her back. "It's okay, let it out."

"I... I.. I don't know what's wrong. She was fine one minute ago."

"Don't worry, Nate, it's just probably from something she ate." Nate nods, looking slightly nervous as Amy finishes and whips her mouth.

"That's so disgusting." She mumbles as Nate crouches down and rubs her back now as Cricket moves back some.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry-

"Don't be, it's fine, how about we get you some water and you can lay down on the couch in the RV for a bit." Amy nods as Nate kisses her temple.

"Yeah, just in case she is sick we don't want Sophia catching it." Nate nods before scooping Amy up and carrying her to the RV. Cricket watches them for a moment before seeing Daryl and Rick heading back without Carol and covered in blood. "Shit, Daryl, what happened out there?" Cricket asks once she makes it over to him. "Are you guys hurt?" Daryl jumps over the bar rail and shakes his head.

"You didn't find her?" Lori asks the group joining the three of them.

"Trail gone cold," Rick says.

"We can't just leave her out there." Lori barks.

"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost." Daryl says to Lori as he glances at her. "We tracked her for awhile."

"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

"Is that blood?" Lori points out, causing Cricket to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Relax, woman, I ain't hurt." Daryl huffs as he sees the concern look in her eyes.

"We took down a walker," Rick informs them. "There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Carol."

"How can you know that?" Andrea asks as Nate walks out of the RV and over to his dad.

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure," Daryl says as he glances over at his son.

Daryl heads over to Nate, Cricket close behind him. "Are you sure-

"Goddamn it, woman." Daryl huffs, turning to face her. "I said I'm fine." She shoots him a look, turning to go, but he catches her wrist and drags her back towards him. "Annabell." She looks up at Daryl and he brushes the hair out of her face. "I'm fine." She stares at him for a moment longer before nodding.

"Good." He chuckles and goes to pull away, but she moves closer, her lips meeting his.

"People are staring, Cricket." Daryl mumbles against her lips, not liking the attention of the people around them. A few them were watching Cricket and Daryl's interaction, but Cricket didn't care about what they thought or that they were watching because all she cared about was kissing Daryl.

"Let them." She kisses Daryl again, his arms wrapping around her as he kisses her back. Cricket pulls away and rest her forehead against his. "I wish everything was much simpler." Daryl gives her a confused look as she says this, not quite understanding what she means. "Carol's out there in the woods alone, the walkers could easily come back and kill us all, and we probably have to spend the night sleeping in cars. I just wish things were normal again." Daryl leans down, giving her another comforting kiss.

"If things were normal then you and I would have never met." She smiles and looks up at Daryl.

"There's always good things that occur from a bad thing." She tells him as she stares into his blue eyes.

"Sophia will be okay, Cricket." Daryl suddenly says, causing her to look up at him again. "She has you. I'll find her mother, but I know you'll watch out for Sophia until then. You're good with her." Cricket smiles as she wraps her arms around Daryl, resting her head against his chest. "You're good with kids in general." He adds as he wraps his arms around her.

"Kids are easy to understand." Cricket whispers. "It's the adults that are harder." Daryl closes his eyes, breathing in the comforting smell of Cricket's shampoo as they stand there holding onto each other.

"Maybe in a different life..." Daryl trails off, causing Cricket to glance up at him.

"What?" Daryl frowns and shakes his head, burying his face into her neck.

"Nothing."

"I think Amy's sick." Cricket whispers after a moment of silence pass through their moment together.

"Is she okay?"

"I don't know. She was puking earlier. Nate's worried."

"I'll talk to him." Cricket nods as she gives a sigh.

"I probably should go check on Sophia anyway." She tells him but makes no move to go. He smiles against her neck as she remains where she is.

"You going to check on her now or just think about checking on her?"

"What can I say, you're warm and comfy." She says, wrapping her arms tighter around him. "You make it hard to want to walk away." Daryl smiles and closes his eyes, letting out a sigh.

"I can talk to Nate tomorrow and I'm sure Sophia will be okay for the night." Daryl pulls back, causing Cricket to whimper. "Come on, you look exhausted, let's go find somewhere to sleep for tonight." He tells her as he takes her hand and leads her away from the sight of everyone.

Daryl finds a warm blanket in an old broken down car, which has enough room for the both of them in the back seat. He moves in and Cricket lays down beside him, he throws the blanket over them as Cricket snuggles into him. "Laying with you makes me feel safe." She whispers as his arms wrap around her. "Makes me feel like the world is almost not over."

"You can rest easy, Cricket, I won't let anything get to you." She smiles and snuggles more into him, closing her eyes and drifting to sleep.

"Night, Daryl."

"Night, Annabell."


	4. Three

AN: So thank you for your reviews, as always they are very appreciated. Now, I forgot to mention this before hand, but I have this story also published on wattpad with pictures of Nate and Cricket, so if you want to see pictures of them you can always check this story out there and see them. The story is on my account, 'Pandiemore'. Also if you guys want more Nate chapters then I'm more than happy to do them, so let me know what you guys think and what you guys want more of. I hope you enjoy the new update and I hope for more of your wonderful reviews. :)

* * *

"Why can't I come with you?" Nate rolls his eyes as he slips his boots on. "Nate, come on-

"Amy, you were just puking the other day."

"I'm fine now. I feel tons better."

"Amy," Nate sighs and turns to face her. "I don't want you going out to the woods searching for Carol. What if you got sick again, huh? One of us would have to go all the way back here to bring you here to rest because there's no way you'd be able to continue if you got sick again." Amy falls silent as she looks at Nate.

"I just hate being useless."

"Amy," Nate sighs and walks over to her, pushing her blonde hair out of her face, and resting his forehead against hers. "You're not useless. They know you haven't been feeling good and they'll totally understand you not coming, but Amy you are not useless, okay?" Amy looks up at Nate's captivating blue eyes and frown.

"I... Be careful out there, Nate." He smiles and kisses her.

"Always."

"You'll come back right?" He rolls his eyes as he pulls back to look at her.

"Nah, I think I'm going to go find a tree to sleep in tonight, one far in the middle of the woods."

"Nate, that's not funny," Amy says, hitting in the chest, causing him to laugh.

"Amy, obviously I'm coming back. We're just going into the woods for today to look for her and we'll be back before nightfall, okay?" Amy nods with a sigh as she looks up at him. "Look, Ams, if you really want to help then you can stay here and help look for things that we might need for when we leave. Look for some meds and some food and stuff, okay?"

"Okay," Amy says, feeling happy with having something to do than just sit around doing nothing.

"Good, now I have to go and meet up with the others. My dad and Rick are going to talk about the trip out there and such."

"Alright." Amy takes Nate's hand, causing him to roll his find.

"By all means come along."

"Stop being an ass, Nate." He chuckles and kisses her temple before the two head towards everyone else. They can see everyone already gathered around waiting for Rick to get whatever he is getting and to say whatever he needs to.

Daryl glances over as Nate and Amy make it to the group. He nods to Nate as Nate shoots him a smile. Cricket smiles a warming smile at both Nate and Amy, which they return. Rick comes over with a rolled up object before dropping it on the hood of the car that they are surrounding. The object unrolls, showing an arsenal of weapons, no guns, however. "Everbody takes a weapon," Rick says, but Nate doesn't bother. He already has his own weapons, which are the quiver of arrows and his bow on his back, a large and sharp hunting knife on his hip, and a pistol resting on his other hip, the left hip.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need," Andrea says, causing Amy to glance at her older sister. Amy hasn't really talked much to Andrea since Andrea almost committed suicide. Amy has seen a side of Andrea that she did not want to see and now it's changing Amy's thoughts on her sister, which is why she needs space to get an understanding of these thoughts. Amy has noticed that since spacing herself from her sister that her sister has grown to become more and sharper and a bit aggressive towards everyone who dares goes against what she thinks or says. "What about the guns?"

"We've been over that." Nate bites his thumb nail, watching the scene unravel. He personal thinks it's a great idea not to have everyone carrying because god forbid if a bunny crosses their pass unexpectedly, they probably would put a whole clip into the poor thing before realizing it was only a bunny. "Daryl, Nate, Rick, and I are carrying."

"You're letting a kid carry?" Andrea questions, her tone suggesting that she thinks Nate is incompetent compared to her.

"I've been trained," Nate speaks sharply to her. "I learned how to shoot a gun when I was five. I am well aware of how to use a gun." Nate says to her. "You were given a gun, you never said you knew how to use it."

"Nate's right, we can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane agrees with Nate as he nods.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about," Andrea says.

"Well, when you learn how to shoot a gun maybe then we'll give you one, Andrea," Cricket says. "You don't see me complaining about not being given a gun. I don't know how to use one, therefore, I think it's best if I don't get one until I know how to use it, so just grab one of these and stop complaining." Cricket says before grabbing one of the knives and stepping back beside Daryl. Andrea glares at Cricket, but Cricket's not even fazed.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by, see, then it's game over for all of us," Shane says. "So you need to get over it like Cricket says." Nate bites on his thumb, trying to not smile at how great the look on Andrea's face is.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." Sophia goes to grab a weapon, but Rick catches her hand.

"Sophia, I think-

"She's my mama and I'm going," Sophia says, cutting Rick off. "I think I should have a weapon just in case."

"Sophia-

"Rick, I'll keep an eye on her if you want," Cricket says, causing Sophia to nod. Rick looks at Sophia then at Cricket before nodding. Sophia goes for the weapons again, but Rick stops her once more.

"I think it's best if you get a less sharp one, we don't want you hurting yourself."

"Here, Soph," Nate pulls out a pocket knife and hands it to Sophia. "It'll get the job done, while also preventing you from getting to badly hurt in case an accident happens." Sophia takes the weapon from Nate and nods.

"Thanks, Nate." She goes and stands beside Cricket, allowing the men to continue.

"Alright, stay quiet and stay sharp," Rick says. "Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other."

"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane orders.

"Dale, keep on those repairs, we've got to get this R.V ready to move," Rick tells Cricket's dad as the man stands.

"We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to." Dale glances at Rick before moving his eyes to Cricket. "Good luck out there. Bring Carol back and be safe."

"We'll be safe, daddy, don't worry," Cricket says, kissing his cheek before heading forth with Nate and Daryl.

"Hey, uh, I'll catch up, okay?" Daryl raises an eyebrow at Nate as he steps back. "I, uh," Nate scratches the back of his head. "I should really go say bye to Amy." Cricket bites back a smile as Daryl rolls his eyes.

"Hurry up," Daryl says, earning a look from Cricket.

"Stop being a grouch. I think it's cute." Nate blushes before turning and heading over to Amy. Amy rests against a car as Nate approaches.

"Hey,"

"Hey."

"You'll stay with everyone here, right? No wondering off."

"Nate, don't worry, I'll be okay." Nate nods before kissing her.

"I just hate having to leave you."

"I could-

"And we already talked about that, Amy, it's safer here for you." Amy sighs but manages a nod as her eyes go to Andrea.

"She hasn't even said bye."

"Maybe she feels like she can't," Nate says as his eyes go to the older blonde. "I mean you're the one ignoring her."

"She's the one who was willing to die."

"Amy..." Nate sighs as he turns her head to face him. "What Andrea did was selfish, we all know that, but maybe you should talk to her, have her explain."

"What is there to explain, Nate. After everything, she was willing to die and leave me. She knew I wouldn't stay and yet she almost did."

"I don't know, Amy, but she's your sister and as much as she's not really my favorite person, I'd hate if you turn your back on her. I mean family is really all any of us have anymore. Any day they can be taken from us. I just don't want you to do something you regret."

"I know, but how can I have her in my life when she was so willing to leave it, plus she can't even accept my feelings for you. It has always been her way or the high way. What if I want my way for once?" Nate frown, and steps closer to Amy, so that he was right against her, while she was pressed against the car and him. Nate leans down and kisses Amy, causing the girl to relax and kiss him back.

Her arms wrap around his neck as his arms wrap around her waist, pulling her even more against him. She fights back a groan as he pulls back from the kiss. His lips move to her ear. "Better?" His breath ghosts against her ear, causing her to shiver.

"Yeah." She answers breathily, causing him to chuckle before giving her one final kiss and stepping fully back.

"I got to go, but you stay out of trouble here." Amy smiles as she feels her bruised lips. Nate grins at her dreamy and an out of it nod. "I'll be back soon." Nate heads back over to where his father and Cricket are waiting.

"What took you so long?" Daryl says in a tone that suggests he is getting already irritated. Nate rolls his eyes and wraps an arm around Cricket.

"What, Cricket annoying you while I was gone?" Cricket chuckles and glances up at Nate.

"You keep it up," Cricket says in a warning tone, causing the boy to grin down at her.

"Or what? You'll put me in time out."

"If you keep that up maybe." Nate laughs as Daryl shakes his head at the two of them.

"Nate," Daryl suddenly says, causing Nate to glance at his father.

"Hmm?"

"I want you to be in the back, just in case I miss something, plus I want someone I trust in the back in case those people need protection." Nate nods at his father's words, going seriously once more.

"Got it."

"And keep an eye on Sophia, I don't want her running off into the woods because she thought she saw Carol."

"Got it," Nate says as Sophia make their way towards them. "Looks like you're with me kid," Nate says, causing the blonde to look up at him. "So, keep close, got it?" She nods as the others join them and they all start for the woods.

Nate walks behind Sophia as his father is up front with Cricket. "I thought I'd be with Cricket," Sophia says, but Nate shakes his head.

"Nah, my dad wants you with me. Cricket doesn't have a gun nor knows how to use one, I do have a gun and know how to use one. He probably figured you'd have a better chance with me." Sophia nods as she glances at him.

"Okay."

"Shane, look." Nate looks forward seeing Shane walking in front of Sophia and Carl in front of him. "Dad said I could carry it and mom said as long as I was-

"Keep it down. We're looking for Carol." Nate frowns at Shane's tone towards Carl. The poor kid just wants to talk to Shane, after all, he does look up the man. "You need to focus on the task."

"Carl," Nate calls, causing them to glance over at him. "How about you help me keep an eye on tracks that might have been left by her. I can show you the different ones if you want."

"His parents-

"I'm sure they won't be mad, Shane. They said for him to stay with the group and I'm part of the group, Shane. Plus he'll be learning something useful under my watch." Carl nods as he walks over to Nate and Sophia. Shane shakes his head at Nate, giving him a glare before moving forward.

"I think Shane's mad at me," Carl says to Nate in a soft tone.

"Shane's always grumpy, Carl. I'm sure he's just stressing about Carol. When grown ups stress they get cranky and a bit harsh sometimes."

"Does your dad ever get mad at you?" Carl asks, causing Nate to chuckle.

"Yeah, but like I said, Shane isn't mad at you, so don't worry. I'm sure once we find Carol then Shane will sit for hours on end listening to your stories." Carl nods as he looks down at the ground.

"What we looking for exactly?"

"Yeah, I want to learn too," Sophia says, causing Nate to smile.

"Alright, tracking 101 will commence." The two kids giggle, glad that Nate is able to distract them from their worries and to be helpful.


	5. Four

Cricket walks beside Daryl as they move through the woods. She glances back to see Nate with both Sophia and Carl. "Looks like Nate is doing daycare." Daryl snorts at Cricket's joke as he keeps his eyes moving around them and on the forest floor.

Daryl turns a corner and sees a bright yellow tent up ahead. Cricket's eyes widen slightly and she looks at Daryl. "You think it could be her in there?" Daryl shrugs as they move forward.

"Worth a glance over." Rick moves behind them and Daryl motions for him to get low and stay quiet, which Rick then tells everyone else.

"She could be in there," Shane says as Sophia tries to get a look.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there," Daryl tells them as he gets up and begins making his way towards the tent. Rick motions for the others to stay as Rick and Shane follow after Daryl.

Sophia tries to follow, but Cricket catches her before she can move past her. "You stay here, Sophia."

"But-

"It could not be your mom and something else instead, we don't want you getting hurt. Your mom wouldn't either, so you have to wait here until we know it's safe for you." Cricket tells her, causing Sophia to slouch in her arms.

Cricket waits with Sophia in her arms as Daryl and the guys check out the tent. "Sophia." Rick hush whispers, causing the girl to glance up. Nate nods to Cricket and scoops Sophia up into his arms.

"I'll keep an eye on her, Cricket." Nate says as he carries Sophia over the briars and roots before settling her on the ground. She goes to run towards the tent, but Nate stops her. "You need to be quiet, Sophia." Sophia nods and the two head over towards Rick and Shane.

"Call out softly." Rick tells Sophia once Sophia and Nate arrive. Sophia glances at Nate, who nods to her, and she starts towards the tent slowly. "If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

"Mama." She calls in a hushed tone. "Mama, are you in there," Sophia asks as she moves closer to Daryl, who waited by the tent in case a walker was in there instead. "Mama. We're all here, mama." Rick and Shane go to Daryl as Nate singles for Sophia to wait where she is for them to check out the tent.

Daryl opens the tent flap and peers in before coughing. He goes into the tent for a minute. "Daryl?" Sophia questions.

"Dad?" Nate calls.

"It ain't her," Daryl says as he walks back out. Sophia's shoulders hunch in disappointment as Nate crouches down in front of her.

"Don't worry, we'll find her," Nate says, causing Sophia to nod.

"What's in there?" Andrea asks.

"Some guy," Daryl says. "Did what Jenner said, opted out. Ain't that what he called it?"

"What if-

"It's too early for what ifs Sophia." Nate says as Sophia goes to say something negative. "We'll find her, you need to stop worrying," Nate tells her as suddenly church bells go off. "What the hell?" Nate and the others look around for the source of the noise before Rick motions for them to go ahead to the right.

The group hurries off towards the noise of the bells. The group runs to a more clear area in the woods, pausing to take in the surroundings. "What direction?" Shane asks.

"I think that way. I'm pretty sure." Rick says, pointing off towards a direction.

"Damn, it's hard to tell out here."

"If we heard them then maybe my mama did too." Sophia says as she holds Nate's hand. Nate reaches down and picks her up, her little legs wrapped around him along with her arms. He holds her tightly in his arms as they wait for further directions and orders.

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn says.

"Or signaling they found her." Andrea puts in.

"Or she could be ringing them herself." Rick offers. "Come, on."

Nate carries Sophia as the group runs through the woods, trying to get to where the bells are being tolled. Finally, as they push back the branches and leaves they see a church and a graveyard sitting in a clearing in the woods. "That can't be it. Got no Steeple, no bells." Shane says as Nate adjusts his grip on Sophia. "Rick." Rick moves forward despite Shane's words and heads for the church before taking off in a full run. The others follow after Rick, running up the steps of the church. Daryl and Rick stand by the doors, Shane standing on the steps in front of the door, all three ready to charge in there. Rick motions for everyone to be quiet as he and Daryl push open the doors slowly.

When they open the doors they see three people sitting and staring forward, but when the people turned Nate sees that they aren't actually alive and are just walkers. Sophia holds onto Nate tighter as they let the men take the walkers out.

Rick machetes one, while Daryl hands his cross bow to his son and takes a small ax. Shane pikes the second walker, while Daryl takes out the last one, but Shane and Rick go a bit heavy on the walkers, a little over killing them. "Sophia!" Daryl yells, but there is no answer. "Yo, J.C, you taking requests?" Cricket rolls her eyes at Daryl, placing a hand on his arm as she passes him, Daryl glances over at her, eyeing her over before he turns and makes his way back towards the others.

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick." Shane says as he turns to the group. Nate moves Sophia in his arms again, trying to remain holding her.

"How many churches do you think are around?" Nate asks.

"There's no steeple." Shane says.

"Doesn't always need one. Technology is more advanced." Nate suggests while Shane gives him a hard stare. Bells go off, causing Nate to look at him. "See?"

They rush out to see a speaker hooked up to a box that plays the bells. Glenn turns it off as Nate tries not to look defeated in front of Sophia. He wants to find Carol, but so far they are having no luck. "A timer. It's on a timer." Daryl says.

"Nate, I want to go back in for a bit." Sophia says, causing Nate to nod as he sets her down on the ground.

"Okay."

"I'll join you, Sophia." Cricket smiles as she takes the small girl's hand and the two head up the steps and back into the church.

Nate hands his father his cross bow and frowns. "So much for-

"There's a chance, Nate." Daryl says, causing his son to nod before looking down at his feet. "Nate?" Daryl questions upon seeing Nate's thoughtful face.

"It's nothing, dad. Just thinking." He glances over at his dad. "What if we don't find Carol, dad? What are we gonna do with Sophia?"

"Nate-

"Dad, it's a fair question. She's only eleven, she needs someone to look out for her." Daryl shakes his head and stares out at the woods. "Cricket's already talking about taking care of her, at least until we do find Carol."

"What does that got to do with us?" Nate glances at his dad and shakes his head.

"I'm not dumb, dad. I know something's going on with you and Cricket. I'm not saying I'm upset because I'm not. Mom... she died a long time ago and you moving on is fine by me, but if Cricket is so stuck on taking care of Sophia that means it's our responsibility too, now that Cricket is going to be stuck with us." Nate says.

"Yeah and what about Amy?" Daryl turns and looks at Nate. "What about her? We're stuck with her too." Nate frowns as he looks at his dad.

"What are you getting at?"

"What I'm getting at is that girl was sick just the other day."

"She's not bit."

"I never said she was."

"You're hinting at it."

"Nate-

"Dad, she isn't bit and she's not infected. She's just... sick... People still get sick even with the dead walking around."

"Look, Nate, what Merle said about blood-

"Merle's not here anymore dad, we both know that. He could easily be dead-

"Don't you dare say that, Nate." Daryl says, but Nate shakes his head.

"Why?" Nate asks.

"You know why Nate-

"What I know, dad, is that man that you call your brother made my life a living hell."

"Nate-

"No, dad. Merle Dixon wanted nothing to do with me. I'm family, dad, whether any of you like it or not and Merle Dixon had tried time and time again to get rid of me. That man was as far from an uncle as your father was for being a dad." Nate can see the anger spike in his father's eyes, but Nate's not afraid. His dad was nothing like Daryl's dad, so Nate knows his dad would never hit him or anything. "Do you even notice how bad Merle was?"

"Nate-

"3rd grade you came home and found out I had broken my arm from falling out of some tree I had been climbing that day, a few months after that you came home and found I had a black eye and a split lip from a fight at school, my tenth birthday I had three broken ribs and a fractured hip from yet another tree I fell out of, Christmas I had pneumonia from being out in the snow too long simply because I didn't want to come inside because you were working instead of spending Christmas with me, the Fourth of July I burned myself with a lighter trying to light a firework, Halloween I fell down the stairs from tripping over my costum that year."

"Nate, what are you getting at..." Daryl says, his voice gone so quiet and almost fearful.

"Dad, you've known me my entire life have you even once seen me loose my balance or trip or even have any sign of being clumsy? And since when would I ever throw a trantrum like refusing to come into the house because you were at work?"

"Nate?"

"You never once saw the truth, dad, because you never once wanted to. So you can talk all you want about how blood is blood and how it comes first, but last time I checked blood betrays us Dixon way more than water does, something you should know full well of." Nate tells him, causing Daryl to not be able to breath. "So as far as I'm concerned I hope Merle Dixon never comes back." Nate turns and makes his way back to the church, his heart heavy and his hands shaking. He never once spoke out against his father, he always did as he was told and always respected Daryl, but now... Now Nate has let a weight off his shoulders and he feels... free almost.


	6. Five

Nate goes into the church, it's empty except for Sophia and Cricket, who are sitting on the front bench. Nate walks over, lays down on the bench, his head resting in Cricket's lap. Cricket looks down and runs her fingers through his hair. "Are you okay, kiddo?" Cricket asks, but Nate shakes his head, rolling over to his side and hiding his face in Cricket's stomach. Cricket frowns and continues to run her fingers through his hair, soothingly massaging his scalp, causing the boy's body to grow less tense. "Do you want to talk about it?" Nate shakes his head, causing Cricket to nod, despite him not seeing. "Okay, we don't have to talk about it. We can just sit here for a little while." Cricket says, causing Nate to close his eyes and relax. "You can tell me when you're ready." She whispers as she continues to sooth his scalp and relax him.

They sit in silence for awhile, Nate just resting as Cricket hums softly to keep him relax and soothed. The sound of footsteps causes Cricket to stop humming and glance over her shoulder. She sees Daryl standing in the doorway, looking at his son with Cricket. His eyes meet Cricket's and it breaks her heart. She sees a sad, regretful, guilty look in Daryl's eyes and Cricket knows, without even asking him or Nate, that Daryl is the reason behind Nate's sudden mode change. Cricket motions for him to join them as she goes back to massaging Nate's scalp and humming. Sophia is laying against Cricket, she too is resting and drifting in and out of sleep from Cricket's soothing hum.

Daryl walks over and looks down at them. "Are we leaving soon?" Cricket asks Daryl as he eyes over his son. Daryl only nods in response and Cricket knows that Daryl wants to talk to Nate alone. "Okay, I'll bring Sophia out." Cricket says, but before she can move Nate's voice stops her.

"Please, don't leave." Daryl's breath catches as he hears his son's voice so broken and needy. Cricket looks at Daryl before looking down at Nate.

"I can stay if you want me to." She says, causing him to nod. "Okay, I won't leave." She whispers, her fingers resuming their task at keeping him calm. Cricket looks at Sophia, but the small girl is already out cold. "She hasn't been sleeping too good. The poor thing must be exhausted." Cricket says. Daryl crouches down and runs his fingers through Nate's hair like Cricket had been doing. His son closes his eyes again at the feeling of his dad's hand. Daryl's moves his hand and rubs Nate's back.

"Can I sit?" Daryl asks, causing Nate to turn and nods. He sits up and moves his feet in order for Daryl to sit down beside him. Daryl grabs his legs and places them on his lap.

"You can lay back down, Nate, get some rest, you must be just as tired as Sophia." Nate nods and resumes his old position with his head in Cricket's lap. The four of them sit there in silence, looking almost like a real family. Daryl glances down at Nate, part of him is unsure if he should talk with Cricket here, but another part of him knows that Nate had wanted her here so he knows Cricket can hear it. "Look, Nate..." Daryl sighs and stares up at Jesus on the cross. "I'm sorry, kiddo." Cricket doesn't say anything as she just looks down at Nate, running her fingers through his hair. "I shouldn't have said what I did before..." Daryl begins. "You were also right." Daryl is never good with talking about his feelings and trying to apologize to his son is a very hard thing to do. "I... I'm sorry I didn't know or notice... it before." Daryl is choosing his words carefully because he's still not fully ready to tell Cricket everything. "I should have and I'm sorry I didn't... And... Amy is a good person. Having her around may be good for you, having someone your own age to hang out with for once. And Cricket..." Daryl's eyes go to Cricket, who looks at him surprised. "She's not going to be going anytime soon, so you don't have to worry about that." Nate opens his eyes and thinks for a minute before turning to look at his dad.

"It's okay, dad, I understand," Nate says quietly knowing his dad hated talking about his feelings and that this is a big step. Nate also knows that his dad probably feels really guilty about the Merle thing, Nate can see it in his eyes. "I forgive you."

"Hey, we're going to be leaving..." They turn to see Rick in the doorway. Rick looks at them, a little taken a back upon seeing what he walked into. He doesn't know what was going on with the Dixons, but he knows that he just interrupted something. "So, uh, come out when ever you're ready." Rick says before heading out the door.

"We should get heading out." Cricket says as Nate sits up and rubs his eyes.

"Yeah, I got Sophia." Nate grabs Sophia, picking her up, and carrying her out of the church. Cricket and Daryl stand and Daryl goes to leave, but Cricket catches his wrist, causing him to turn back to her.

"I don't know what happened with you and Nate, but you are doing a good job, Daryl, with raising him I mean." She tells him. "Everybody makes a mistake and I know Nate doesn't blame you for whatever happened." Cricket moves forward and her lips gently touch Daryl's. "You're a good father, Daryl." She turns to go, but Daryl pulls her to him, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her again. Her arms wrap around his neck, her fingers entangling in his hair. His arms wrap around her waist, keeping her body flush against his. Their lips work against each other before Daryl takes her bottom lip and bites it. It causes her to gasp, which allows Daryl to slip his tongue into her mouth. She pulls his head closer, the two deepening the kiss even more. Their tongue fight for domination as Daryl's hand slips under her shirt. Cricket moans into the kiss, her body begging for more as her nails dug into the back of his neck. His hands slip away from her shirt and down to her ass. He lifts her up, her legs wrapping around his waist, as he backs them up so that she was against the wall. His lips move down to her neck, sucking, biting, and kissing her jugular. Her eyes closed at the feeling, her breath short and needy. "Daryl..." She whispers out as she can feel his obvious hard on pressing against her center with a heavy pressure that causes her head to spin. The two loose track of where they are and the only thing that matters to them in that moment is each other.

Their peacful moment is interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Daryl and Cricket pull away from each, Daryl setting Cricket down as he turns and sees his son leaning against the doorframe, staring out at the graveyard in front of the church. "Rick wants you two to hurry up. He wants to talk to the group before moving on." Nate says as Daryl's cheek flush. "So..." Nate glances over at them and eyes them over. "Hurry up." Nate says, an amused grin on his face. Daryl glares at his son, but Nate just chuckles and heads off outside.

"Um... We should get to the others..." Cricket says, her cheeks just as flushed. Daryl looks over at Cricket, taking in her bruised lips, her red cheeks, her messy hair and clothes, and he grins. She glares at him. "Shut up." She says, turning to go, but Daryl grabs her hand and pulls her into another kiss. "Daryl, we'll just end up back where we were five minutes ago if you keep that up." She mumbles against his lips. Daryl pulls away with a frown. "Don't give me that look, Dixon, we got to go." She pulls away from his warm embrace and begins making her way to the door, making sure her hair covered her neck. Her lips obviously couldn't be helped, but she just hoped no one dared make a comment to her or worst to Daryl.


	7. Six

Nate walks out of the church, walking beside his father with Cricket on the other side of Daryl. Sophia was walking in front of Nate, a tired look on her face. "I can carry you if you want, Soph."

"I'm fine."

"You look tired."

"I'll sleep when mama is better." Nate frowns before placing a hand on Sophia's head.

"Fine, but don't go passing out on me." Sophia grins up at Nate, who smiles back at her.

They walk over towards the others to see them waiting for Shane and Rick to finish their talk. As they reach the others Shane makes his way towards them all. "Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."

"You're splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl asks.

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Shane tells Daryl, causing Sophia to look between them.

"I want to stay too." Carl and she said at the same time.

"Uh uh, kiddo." Nate says. "You're sticking with us."

"You're not my brother, Nate. She's my mama and I want to stay and help them look for her."

"And I'm Sophia's friend. I want to help her find her mom." Carl says, stepping forward towards Rick and Shane. A moment of silence goes before Lori looks at Carl.

"Just be careful, okay?" She tells him.

"I will." Carl tells her back as Sophia smiles, about to step forward, but Nate pulls her towards him, crouching down to her height.

"Soph, I know you're worried about your mama, but you should stick with the larger group. We can't have the both of you in danger." Nate whispers to her. "I know you want to find your mama, but-

"I'll be with Rick and Shane, I'll be fine." Nate looks up at Cricket, who was busy debating whether or not to allow it.

"Nate's right, Sophia, plus you're exhausted. If you go with Rick and Shane then you'll only be out in the woods longer and be using more energy up. Your mama would have wanted us to take care of you, so sorry, but I say you stick with us." Sophia looks ready to argue, but as she looks at Nate she stops. She can see they only want to take care of her, so she nods to Nate and looks to Cricket.

"Fine, but Nate's carrying me the rest of the way." Cricket laughs as the rest of the group join in.

"Deal." Nate scoops her up in his arms and stands up. The group gathers their things and get ready to move as Rick says goodbye to his wife.

"I'll be along soon enough." Rick tells Lori as Daryl pushes Nate forward, singling for him to start heading forward. "Here, take this." Rick holds out a gun to Lori. "Remember how to use it?"

"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed."

"Here, got a spare." Daryl holds out a small pistol. "Take it." Andrea huffs and rolls her eyes as Daryl moves forward after Nate and Sophia with Cricket beside him. Cricket's hand slips into Daryl's, causing the man to look over at her. She doesn't look at him, but he knows that she knows he's looking at her because she has a rather cute smile on her face. "What you smiling at?" Cricket's smile grew larger as she looks over at Daryl.

"Oh, nothing..." She says in a less than seductive tone. Daryl shakes his head at her, his fingers tangling up with hers, which causes a happy smile to take over the smug look. Cricket looks at him and tightens their hands and moves closer to him as they walk so that their sides brushed.

The group walks through the woods, Daryl leading the way, and Nate taking up the back. "So... this is it?" Sophia suddenly asks, causing them to glance at her. "This the whole plan?" Daryl sighs and looks at the small blonde. The girl is so innocent but has a broken spirit and heart from the painful memories of the past and for the pain, she's going through now. Looking at her reminds Daryl of himself, growing up with an abusive father, but Sophia also reminds him of Nate. Nate had always been a perfect angel growing up. He was so innocent, so pure, so selfless even as a baby, but the years of living on the bad side of the tracks and dealing with surviving day by day got to Nate, slowly breaking him. Daryl hated seeing Nate's spirit break every time he came home from school with still no friends to talk about or when Nate had to deal with using old school supplies every year, while other kids were getting new clothes, new sneakers, and new backpacks. Daryl had to watch as his son grew to be just like him, used to having to fight to just survive. He doesn't want to see Sophia like that. Not like he sees in Nate or himself.

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl answers honestly.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea sasses, causing Nate to shoot her look. Andrea eyes over Nate and Lori. "I see you two carry a gun."

"Why, you want it?" Lori asks with a bit of snap to her voice. "Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me." Andrea huffs in a tone of annoyance as she takes it. "All of you." She looks at them all. "All of you are blaming Rick. It's in all of your faces every time you look at him." Lori looks at Sophia. "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through and I would do anything to stop it, but you can't blame Rick." Lori says gently as she turns to the others. "When Carol ran he didn't hesitate, did he?" She asks them. "Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently. Anybody?" She looks at everyone, but they stayed quiet. "Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. You think you can do this without him? Go right ahead, nobody is stopping you." She takes a sip of her water.

"I don't blame Rick." Their eyes go to Sophia. "He's done more for my mama then my pa would have. He's trying and that's all that counts." Andrea holds out the gun to Lori, who takes it and looks up at her.

"We should keep moving." Daryl squeezes Cricket's hand before he begins to lead the way once more. Nate looks down at Cricket and kisses her temple.

"Don't worry, we'll find your mama."

* * *

AN: Sorry about the chapter. I am writing this on two different sites, so I often just copy and paste and some times on rare occasion it doesn't come through clearly, but I hope it works now.


	8. Seven

Nate stops as Lori turns around. "Lori?" Nate questions.

"You still worrying about it?" Andrea asks as the group turns to face the paused Lori.

"It was a gunshot." Lori tells them.

"We all heard it." Daryl says as he stops, his eyes scanning the woods. Cricket moves to stand closer to Daryl. He glances at Cricket before looking towards Lori.

"Why one? Why just one gunshot?" Lori asks.

"Maybe they took down a walker." Nate shrugs as he moves Sophia in his arms for a more secure and comfortable grip.

"Please don't patronize me." Lori says coldly as she looks at Nate. "You all know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane. They'd do it quietly."

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Cricket asks, causing Daryl to rub her back soothingly upon seeing the worry in her eyes.

"There's nothing we can do about it anyways." Daryl tells them. "Can't run around these woods chasing echoes."

"So what do we do?" Lori asks.

"Same as we've been." Nate says as he looks at his father. Daryl nods.

"Beat the bush for Carol, work our way back to the highway." He says.

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the R.V." Andrea says, causing them to nod and move forward.

"We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth." Andrea pauses to say to Sophia, who nods tiredly.

"I'll tell you what it's worth- not a damn thing." Daryl says as he walks over. "It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying. We're gonna locate Carol, she's gonna be just fine." He looks at Sophia and Andrea. "Am I the only one zen around here?" Sophia giggles as Cricket smiles at Nate, who chuckles. "Good lord."

"Come on, the great master of zen, let's get back to the highway." Cricket says teasingly as she takes Daryl's arm and leads him ahead to the front again.

The group walks through the woods and Sophia rubs her eyes. "Are you Amy's boyfriend?" Andrea glances over her shoulder as she hears Sophia.

"Well, that's a sudden question. What got you thinking about Amy and me?" Sophia shrugs and looks up at him.

"My mama used to say people in love kissed... she never really kissed my pa." Nate runs a hand through her short blonde hair.

"Yeah, Ams and I are dating. I mean, I guess that's what you call it even though the term dating seems a bit out dated now with the walkers around." Nate tells her. "Not like we could ever go on some date or whatever crap people our age are supposed to do." Sophia snickers as Andrea rolls her eyes.

"Glad that you care enough to think about such things." Andrea mutters sarcastically, causing Cricket to turn to face her.

"Look, Andrea, I don't care whatever crap you're going through because we all are going through the same crap. I get it life sucks and you wanted to die and be rid of this world, but a hell of a lot of us wish that some days too doesn't mean you should get a pass to get to treat people like shit." Andrea scolds and crosses her arms.

"Just because you're fucking his dad does not make you his mother." Andrea says, causing everyone to stare at her in surprise.

"I don't have to be fucken Daryl to conisder Nate a son. Whether it's by blood or not he is mine, got it, so if I hear you say another word or even look at Nate bad again then there will be hell to pay." Her words were like ice and held a meancing warning that causes the blonde to fall silent. "Come on, Nate." Cricket grabs his arm and leads him forward before looking at the others. "Come on, we have to get back to the high way before dark." The others follow after them, not saying a word.

"Thanks, Cricket." Nate says after a moment, causing Cricket to look at him.

"What for?"

"For saying what you did, for sticking up for me."

"Nate, what I said is true. I protect my own and since I've come to know you I have known you as like a son to me and like I said I protect what's my own." Nate smiles at her as she kisses his cheek before continuing forward. Daryl bites back a smile as he takes Cricket's hand in his, causing her to smile.

"How much farther?" Andrea asks with a sharpness. Daryl feels Cricket's grip tighten, which causes him to run his thumb across her knuckles that seem to do the trick to relax her.

"Not much. Maybe a hundred yards as the crow flies." Cricket raises an eyebrow at him as Nate chuckles.

"Too bad we're not crows." Andrea mumbles.

"Careful," Daryl tells Cricket as he helps her climb over the log. She smiles in thanks as Nate smiles, watching the two interact. "What you smiling at?" Nate chuckles.

"Nothing, softy." Daryl glares at Nate, who simply laughs and heads forward.

"I'll show you softy." Daryl grumbles.

"Nah, I think that is something Cricket prefers." Daryl glares at the back of Nate's head, trying to burn a hole, but Nate simply ignores his burning glare.

The joking mode between the group soon diminishes as they hear Andrea scream. "Andrea?" Lori calls as they all hurry back the way they came.

"Nate?" Sophia calls as she clings to the youngest Dixon.

"Stay here, Nate with her just in case." Daryl orders before hurry after the others. "You too, Cricket."

"Daryl-" Cricket tries, but he's already far ahead. She groans and looks at Nate. "Your father is-

"Whatever you have to say I heard before and I know." Cricket smiles.

"Good boy."

"Woof."

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" Cricket hears a female say after the screaming ends, causing Cricket to nod to Nate and head down towards the others. Nate holds on to Sophia as they walk down the hill.

"Hey, what's going on?" Nate asks as the others walk back without Lori.

"Explain it when we get to the others." Daryl says as he leads them back the way they previously came. Cricket looks at Nate, who shrugs.

"Come on."


	9. Eight

"Shot? What do you mean shot?" Glenn had just finished explaining what happened to the Dale and the others when they got to the high way.

"I don't know, Dale. I wasn't there." Glenn says as they climb over to the high way. "All I know is this chick road out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori."

"You let her?" Dale asks Daryl.

"Climb down out of my asshole, man." Daryl snaps, causing Cricket to hit in the chest with a glare. "Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's." Daryl says, moving around Dale.

"And I heard Screams. Was that you?" Dale asks Cricket, who shakes her head. He repeats his question to Andrea, who ignores him and walks ahead.

"She got attacked by a walker. It was a close call." Glenn says as Amy leans against the rv.

"Are you okay?" She asks her sister. Andrea just gives her sister a look and pushes her slightly out of the way, so that she can get into the rv. Nate glares at Andrea before moving towards Amy.

"Hey, Amy, how you feeling?" He asks as he cups her face and pushes her hair out of her face.

"Still nauseous." Nate stares at her with concern before leaning down and going to kiss her. "Trust me, Nate, you don't want to kiss me." He frowns before nodding and kissing her forehead.

The group begins talking about heading up to the farm, but Sophia shakes her head. "I won't do it. We can't just leave."

"Sophia, the group is split. We're scattered and weak." Dale says, trying to get the young girl to understand.

"What if my mama comes back and we're not here? It could happen."

"If Carol found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Andrea says, causing Amy to frown and lean into Nate.

"Okay, we got to plan for this." Daryl nods. "I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the R.V."

"I'll stay too." Cricket says, her hand holding onto Daryl's.

"If the R.V and my daughter are staying then I am too." Dale says.

"I'm in." Andrea says.

"If you're staying dad, then-

"Nate, Amy's sick. She needs to be checked out by doctor just in case it's worst than it seems." Cricket says. "You should go with her to the farm."

"Well, if you're all staying then I'm-

"Not you, Glenn. You're going." Dale says. "Take Carol's Cherokee."

"Me? Why is it always me?" Glenn asks.

"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on. But most important, you have to get T-Dog there. This is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection. Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics." Cricket frowns as Daryl pulls his hand free from Cricket and starts over to his brother's bike. "Because if not T-Dog will die, no joke." Dale finishes.

Daryl takes the rag of Dale's off the bike and pulls a large bag of meds out from a bag on the bike before walking over to Dale. "Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle." Daryl says as he throws the rag at Dale. "Why'd you wait till now to say anything?" Daryl asks as he put the bag down on the hood of a truck. "Got my brother's stash." He looks through the plastic bag as everyone surrounds him. "Crystal, X. Don't need that. Some kick ass painkillers." He throws them to Glenn. "Oxycycline." He tosses it to Dale. "Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion."

"Don't worry, my dad never had sex too often." Nate whispers in Cricket's hear. "He's clean." Cricket rolls her eyes, but stay quiet.

Cricket follows after Daryl with Nate following close behind. "Dad-

"No arguing, Nate. You heard Cricket." Nate sighs and nods.

"I know, I need to go with Amy, but..." Daryl pauses and turns to face Nate. Daryl and Nate were only ever away from each other on rare occasions and the times that they were... they weren't always memorable. Daryl walks up to Nate and wraps his arms around him, causing Nate to close his eyes and hug him back.

"I'll be with you soon enough." Nate nods and pulls away from his father.

"See you tomorrow then... or something." Nate says, causing Daryl to nod as Cricket gives Nate a tender hug.

"Watch out for Amy."

"Yeah, I'll take Sophia with me. She needs to sleep somewhere safe and warm. I'll try and convince her." Cricket nods as he leaves Daryl and Cricket alone.

"Can you try to be nicer to my dad, Daryl. He's only trying to help." Daryl turns to face Cricket. "He is my dad afterall." Daryl frowns before nodding. "Thank you. It would mean a lot if you did treat him better." Cricket says as she walks over to him and leans up, pressing her lips against his.

Daryl wraps his arms around her and kisses her back, his fingers trailing under her shirt. "Daryl." She breaths out as his lips went down her neck. She closes her eyes and moans as he sucks on her sweet spot.

Daryl pulls away, causing a whimper to escape Cricket. "Come on, let's find somewhere to sleep."

"Daryl." Cricket pouts, but Daryl shakes his head.

"The next time I get a chance to be with you I want it to be somewhere where I won't be worried about getting chomped on before I can get my pants back on." Cricket laughs and gives him a final kiss.

"Fine." She turns to go, but Daryl pulls her back into his arms.

"If this farm is safe enough..." She smiles up at him.

"What? If this farm is safe enough then what?" He leans down and his breath ghosts her ear.

"Then I'm all yours... Annabell." She closes her eyes, her body arching into his with the desire to have him. Daryl pulls away despite the pain it causes and he steps back. "For now, let's find somewhere to sleep, okay?" She sighs but nods as he walks down the street with her.

Daryl finds a safe car that has limited gunk and trash in it and lays down on the back seats. "It's not really..." Cricket gasps as Daryl pulls her on top of him. "Daryl-

"Just get some sleep."

"Daryl, there's no way you'll be able to sleep. I'm way too-

"You're as light as a feather, Cricket. Now close your damn eyes and get some sleep." Cricket sighs and snuggles into Daryl, causing him to roll his eyes.

"If I had know you were this much of a snuggler-

"Then what?" She raises her head and looks at him. "You love it." He snorts, but then her knee ran across his crotch, causing him to freeze. She leans down and whispers in his ear. "I can feel just how much you like it." He closes his eyes as suddenly Cricket's off him, causing him to open them again.

"Cricket?" She forces him to sit up. "Cricket, come on, we need to sleep." Cricket ignores him as she kneels down on the floor of the car and between his legs, suddenly Daryl realizes what she's doing. "Cricket, I told you-

"And I'm not saying to have sex." She unzips Daryl's pants, causing his breath to pick up in speed. She smiles innocently up at him. "I'm not having you undress fully... Just partially." She pulls his jeans down to his knees before going for his boxers.

"Annabell," He grabs her hand to stop her from continuing. "You don't have to do this." She smiles and pulls her hand free.

"I want to." She pulls his boxers down and his erection springs free, causing him to groan at the sudden feeling of freedom. She smiles before grabbing his erection and running her fingers along it.

"Shit." Daryl curses as he feels her tongue run on top of it. He opens his eyes and stares down at her, not wanting to miss anything. He wants this memory to be engraved into his brain.

She takes his erection into her mouth, her eyes never leaving his, as she runs her tongue over the tip of him, which is leaking precum. She engulfs him fully and begins to suck him, causing him to groan. Her teeth run across his erection as she sucked him, causing his hips to buck up, which causes her to moan. "Fuck." Daryl groans as he throws his head back. "Goddamn, Annabell... Don't stop." He moans as the speed of her mouth picks up. "Fuck, fuck. I won't be able to last long." He pants as she uses her hands to massage his balls, which seems to push him over the edge as he pushes as far into her mouth as he can as he cums. "Fuck!" He yells, his head thrown back as Cricket swallows all of his seed. "Oh god." Cricket licks her lips as she smiles up at him.

"Better?" He nods as she helps him get himself readjusted inside his boxers and pants. She stills as she hears Dale's voice.

"Daryl?" Daryl and Cricket look at each other before laughing.

"I think you were a bit loud, hun." He rolls his eyes as Cricket climbs out of the car.

"Where you going?"

"To make sure my father doesn't do something stupid." She says as she walks out so her father can see her.

"You two okay?"

"Yeah, Daryl hit his head." Cricket laughs. "He's fine." Dale eyes her over with a frown.

"Why are you sleeping in the R.V." Cricket frowns and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Dad, I'm not a little girl anymore. You don't need to watch over me like a hawk."

"I'm not saying-

"I know, dad, but don't worry, okay. I'm with Daryl."

"That's kind of my point." Cricket sighs and walks over to her father.

"Dad, I get it, you don't like me with some redneck, but he's sweet, daddy, really he is. He's good to me and I really like him, so can you both please try to get a long, for me?" Dale looks at her before nodding.

"Fine, but I don't want you to get hurt."

"That's the thing you don't get, daddy, Daryl would never hurt me."


	10. Nine

They arrive at the farm and Nate picks up Sophia. "How'd you get her to come with?" Glenn asks as he looks over at the sleeping girl.

"Told her that if her mother shows up we'll let her know, but she can't really do much to help when it's dark out, so she mines as well get a good night sleep here where she'll be safe. I also told her that her mother would want that."

"Good choice." T-Dog nods as they walk towards the house. They stop by the brick steps and Glenn turns to Nate, Amy, and T-Dog.

"So do we ring the bell?" Glenn asks, causing Amy to shrug and Nate to give him a look.

"I mean it looks like people live here."

"We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we?" T-Dog asks. "Having to be considerate." They begin their way up the steps.

"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" The woman from before asks as she sits in a rocking chair. Nate and the others look over to see her sitting in the darkness.

"Uh, hi." Glenn says, causing Nate to give him a look.

"Yeah, we did." Nate tells her.

"Yes, we closed it." Glenn nods. "Did the latch and everything." Nate rolls his eyes as he moves Sophia in his arms as his arms grow tired and stiff.

The girl places her feet back on the ground and leans forward. "Hello. Nice to see you again." Glenn says, causing Nate to roll his eyes again, T-Dog to give him a look, and Amy to bite her lip to keep from laughing at Glenn's patheticness. "We, uh, met before briefly."

"Look, we came to help." T-Dog says, helping Glenn out of the hole he dug himself. "There anything we can do?" The girl gets up to meet them when T-Dog winces in pain. Her eyes went to the bandage. "It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though."

"We'll have it looked at." She tells them.

"Another of our member, Amy, she's been sick too. We don't know with what, but..." Nate trails off and the girl nods.

"I'll tell them you're here." She says.

"We have some painkillers and antibiotics." Glenn says as he pulls out the bottles of pills from his bag. "I already gave him some. If Carl needs any." Glenn holds them out.

"Come on inside. I'll make you something to eat." The girl says as she takes the pills from Glenn.

They head inside and walk into the room Carl is in to see him in pretty bad condition. "Hey." Glenn says, looking at them with worried eyes.

"Hey." Rick says in return, his voice low and broken sounding.

"Um, we're here, okay?" Glenn says.

"Thank you." Lori says with a nod to them as Nate gives them a small comforting smile.

"Whatever you need." T-Dog says. They make their way out again and head into the kitchen with the girl.

When Amy tries to eat she looks ready to puke. "You, okay?" Amy looks up at Nate as he rubs her back.

"I don't think I can eat."

"Amy, you need to eat." Amy swallows and looks down at the food.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Nate sighs and stands up and help her up.

"Come on." Nate leads her back outside and she hurries to a bush before puking. Nate crouches down beside her and rubs her back. "Let it out." He says as he rubs her back more. "It's going to be okay." He whispers as he kisses her shoulder. "It'll be okay." The girl from before walks out to see Amy puking.

"She okay?"

"She's sick." Nate says as he stands up. "She can't keep food down."

"I'll have my dad look at her once we fix Carl up." He nods as Amy pukes some more, causing Nate to look down at her before kneeling down and rubbing her back. "We may have some saltines laying around. My mom... She used to give them to me whenever I had a stomach bug or anything that makes me nausious." He looks at her as Amy finally stops puking.

"You okay, Amy?" She leans against him tired, causing him to lift her up into his stiff and tired arms, which are screaming at him to give them a break, but he ignores it as he holds her close into his arms. "She's tired."

"She can use one of the rooms upstairs."

"I don't want to kick you out of your own rooms."

"She's sick. We don't mind. She needs her rest." The girl says, causing Nate to nod before carrying Amy back into the house and following the girl upstairs to one of the rooms. Nate lays Amy down and sits down beside her, holding her hand and pushing her hair from her face. "You love her, don't you." Nate looks up at the girl before nodding.

"Yeah, I do."

"I never introduced myself. I'm Maggie." Nate nods.

"Nate. This is Amy." Maggie nods as she pulls up a seat beside Nate.

"How old is she?" This question causes Nate to laugh. "What?" He looks at as he laughs before shaking his head.

"It's nothing." He smiles as he looks down at Amy. "It's just... I never even asked. Her birthday was about a week ago and I don't even know how old she is." Maggie frowns before rubbing Nate's back.

"She'll be okay, Nate. My dad will look at her and he'll help her." Nate nods, his throat feeling swollen with the emotions going through him.

"How'd you meet her?"

"My dad, uncle, and I went to Atlanta in the beginning when they talked about it being safe. Amy and her sister Andrea went there too. Our whole group did. When the city fell our members all took refuge at an area off of the highway. We became a group just looking to survive. We lost a lot of our group members, but we've all were strangers before all of this."

"So you met Amy because of Atlanta falling?" Nate nods as he runs his thumb over Amy's knuckles.

"Yeah. I doubt I'd have ever met her if it wasn't for the apocolpyse happening and the city falling. sounds crazy doesn't it?" Nate looks at Maggie. "I mean, the world went to shit, but for the first time ever in my life I actually find something I care about..." Nate looks at Amy. "Or rather someone." Maggie nods as she watches them.

"Yeah, the world is crazy." Nate stares at Amy for a long moment, while Maggie just stares at the both of them. "Look, you're exhausted. You need to sleep as much as she does. How about I leave the two of you to get some sleep. I'll have my dad check on Amy as soon as he is able to." Nate nods, but doesn't move from his spot. "Nate, she'll be okay. She's sleeping now. Get some rest. You're no good to her exhausted." Nate sighs before nodding.

"Thanks, Maggie." She nods and Nate stands up kicking his boots off.

"Get some sleep."


	11. Ten

Nate closes his eyes as he buries his face into Amy's hair, her scent relaxing him as his eyes drift closed. He lets out a heavy breath and drifts off to sleep.

Nate stirs awake at the sound of the door opening, causing his grip to go to his knife and his eyes opening as he slides his knife out. "Easy, boy. It's just me." Nate relaxes as he sees the old man from before standing there.

"What about Carl?" Nate asks, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes.

"He's stable. We got him fixed up." He tells Nate as he motions towards Amy. "She sleeping?" Nate glances down at her and runs his fingers through her hair.

"Yeah, she's exhausted." Nate tells him as he puts his knife back into its holster on his hip.

"What's her symtoms?"

"Nausea mostly. She hasn't really been able to keep any food down since we got back on the road." Nate tells him.

"Can you wake her up?" Nate nods and rubs Amy's arm.

"Amy, hun, you gotta wake up." Nate whispers to her, causing her to stir. She opens her eyes groggily and looks up at him.

"Nate? What's going on?"

"The doctor going to check you over." Nate tells her as she sits up, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She nods and rests her head on his shoulder her eyes drifting close again. "Amy, you gotta stay awake." She opens her eyes again and nods, but anyone can tell that it's hard for her.

"Amy, that's your name?" The old man asks, causing her to nod. "I'm Hershel. I need you to tell me if you ate anything bad of lately."

"If she did then she probably would have puked it out by now. She's been puking none stop." Nate tells him. Hershel takes out a thermometer and measures her temperature.

"You don't have a fever." Hershel says as he thinks of everything that they've told him. "Amy, I would like if you could give me a sample of your urine." Amy nods as she stands up almost falling right back down if Nate didn't catch her.

"You okay, Amy?" She nods, but this only seems to make Hershel frown.

"She weak. She needs to eat."

"Her body won't let her though." Hershel frowns before standing.

"I'll have one of my daughters make soup for her, but you gotta have her get me that sample." Nate nods as he picks Amy up.

"Where's the bathroom?"

"Down the hall." He nods and carries her out towards the bathroom after taking the cup Hershel gave him.

He places her back down on her feet once in the bathroom. "Do you need help or..." Amy laughs and shakes her head.

"Don't worry Nate, I won't ask you to help. I'll be fine. You can wait outside."

"You sure? You were really dizzy back there and-

"I'm fine, Nate. Go wait outside." She says, resting a hand on his cheek. He nods, kissing her forehead, before going back outside. He only has to wait ten minutes before Amy comes back out.

"Want me to carry you back to bed?" She nods and he picks her up again before carrying her back to the soft bed and laying her back down.

"Can you lay with me? I sleep better knowing you're next to me."

"Sure, Amy." Nate lays down beside her and pulls her into his arms, her back against his chest. He buries his face into her neck as they both close their eyes and drift back to sleep.

Nate doesn't know what time they got woken up at, but when they wake up it's bright outside and Maggie is standing before them. "Hey, wake up, I got food for the both of you." Nate rubs his eyes and stares up at Maggie.

"Oh, hey, Maggie." She chuckles as she shows him the tray of food.

"Sit up. You both need to eat." Nate nods as he looks at Amy.

"Come on, Amy, you need to eat."

"I don't think I can."

"You have to try." Maggie says. "Doctor's orders." Maggie pulls up a chair as Nate and Amy sit up. "Here, you go, Nate." Nate takes the warm bowl of soup and begins to eat as Maggie hands Amy's hers. "I'll help if you want. Just take small spoon fulls at a time." Maggie tells her as she brought the spoon up to Amy's lips, helping her eat due to how weak she is.

With Maggie's help, Amy manages to finish the bowl without any nausea. "Here, drink this." Maggie hands a glass of what appears to be water to Amy. "It's water, but has some pills in it to help ease your nausea. My dad thought it would be easier for you to take them this way." Amy nods before drinking the water. "You should drink some water too." Maggie says as she hands over another glass for Nate. "This is just water, so don't worry." Nate nods and drinks it as Amy finishes hers.

"Can I use your bathroom?" This causes Nate and Maggie to look at her worried. "I have to pee, don't worry." Maggie chuckles before nodding.

"Go ahead, you remember the way?"

"Yeah."

"Need help, Amy?" Nate asks.

"No, I'm not so dizzy now." Nate nods and Amy stands up slowly and walks just as slow out the door.

"You're good with her." Maggie says, causing Nate to look over at her and nod.

"Thanks. Did your dad find out what's wrong with her?" Maggie nods and stares down at her hands. "What?"

"Nate..." Maggie looks up at him. "She's pregnant." Nate freezes as he stares at Maggie.

"W-What?"

"She's nauseous because of the baby. It's morning sickness. My dad's worried about the baby because you said she hasn't been eating meaning the baby hasn't had any nutrients, so..." Nate runs his fingers through his hair, his mind spinning. "I know this is a lot to take in, but-

"I'm nineteen," Nate tells her. "I graduated high school only last year, which seems like forever ago, but I did. I'm only nineteen and living in a world filled with the dead trying to eat us and yet..." Nate shakes his head. "And yet I'm stupid enough to get my girlfriend pregnant." Maggie sits down on the bed beside Nate and rubs his back.

"It'll be okay, Nate."

"How can you say that?" Nate looks over at her. "Amy can barely survive in this world alone, but now there's a baby involved." Nate shakes his head. "I can't do this."

"You have to, Nate. Like it or not Amy's pregnant and that baby will be born into this world. You're its father. You have to be a dad now, Nate. I know it's hard, I get it, but there's no options for the two of you."

"What about-

"Do you really think Amy wants that, Nate? Think for just amount. What you're thinking is selfish."

"You don't understand-

"I understand perfectly fine, Nate. I lost people too. I'm scared too, but this baby is yours and Amy's. You both made it and you both have to live with your mistake now." Nate closes his eyes and puts his head into his hands. Maggie sighs and rubs his back as Amy walks in.

"Hey, so..." Amy trails off as she looks at Nate. "What's wrong?" Maggie looks up at Amy before standing.

"I think I'll leave you two alone for a moment."

"I'm not dying am I?" Amy asks, causing Maggie to shake her.

"No, you're not dying, but..." Maggie looks at Nate. "Nate will explain." Maggie walks out and Amy turns to Nate, who still hasn't moved.

"Nate, you're scaring me." Nate looks up at her and Amy's shocked to see his eyes red as if he's ready to cry. "Nate?" Amy's voice shakes as she walks over to her boyfriend. She sits down beside him and pushes his hair out of his face. "What's wrong? Talk to me."

"Amy... You're pregnant."


	12. Eleven

Cricket rides on the back of Daryl's bike as Dale drives his R.V in and Andrea drives another car in. Daryl stops the bike and turns it off as the group comes out of the house. Daryl sees everyone, but Nate, which causes him to worry a bit, but Cricket places a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, I'm sure there's a reason he's not here. Don't freak out just yet." She whispers before getting off the bike as everyone waits for Rick to tell them how Carl is.

"How is he?" Dale asks as they all gather around each other in a group.

"He'll pull through, thanks to Hershel and his people." Lori says.

"And Shane." Rick adds. "We'd have lost Carl if not for him." Dale moves forward and pulls Rick into his arms.

Everyone embraces each other as Dale asks the question everybody has been wondering. "How'd it happen?"

"Hunting accident. That's all- Just a stupid accident."

"Where's Nate?" Cricket asks, causing Maggie to glance over at her.

"Are you his mom?" Maggie asks, causing Cricket to freeze on the spot.

"I'm his dad." Daryl says, causing Maggie to look at him.

"He's upstairs with Amy, follow me."

"I'm Amy's sister, is she okay?" Andrea asks, causing Maggie to look at her.

"Just follow me." Daryl, Cricket, and Andrea head inside the house to where Nate and Amy is. Nate's sitting in a chair, his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands, while Amy lays in the bed sleeping once more. The door opens causing Nate to rise his head to see Daryl, Cricket, Andrea, and Maggie walk in.

"I think Nate should talk to his dad first." Maggie says to the others.

"She's my sister." Andrea snaps.

"I know, but one at a time, please." Maggie says, causing Andrea to look at Nate before walking out, but Cricket stays. "Look-

"She can stay." Nate says, causing Maggie to look at him. His voice is barely above a whisper and it's rough, causing Maggie to worry, but she nods anyways and leaves them alone.

"What's going on?" Cricket asks as she walks over to him as Daryl eyes Amy. Nate stares down at his feet, his heart racing as he tries to find a way to tell his dad what he did. "Nate?" Cricket crouches down in front of Nate and takes his hands. "What's wrong?" Daryl looks at Nate and can see Nate's struggling to keep his emotions in check.

"Cricket, maybe you should wait outside." Daryl says, causing Cricket to look at him. She frowns, but nods as Daryl takes her place and she heads outside. "Nate, look at me." Nate lifts his eyes and looks at his dad, who can see the tears in Nate's eyes. "What's wrong." Nate takes a shaky breath in as he stares at his father. Daryl can see fear, regret, and worry in his eyes. "Nate, come on, just tell me. She's not dying is she?" Daryl asks, causing Nate to shake his head.

"No... She's not dying." Nate whispers, the tears rolling down his face.

"Nate, come on, kiddo, just tell me. If she's not dying then how bad can it be?" Daryl asks in a gentle tone as he wipes the tears away from Nate's eyes.

"She's pregnant, dad." He croaks, causing Daryl to freeze and look at Nate.

"What?" Tears run down Nate's face faster, causing Daryl to pull him into his arms. "Shh, it's okay." Daryl whispers, pulling Nate down on the floor and rocking him. "It's okay, just breathe. Just breathe." Daryl whispers in his ears as Nate cries, causing Daryl to kiss his temple. "It's going to be okay."

"I was so stupid-

"No you weren't." Daryl cuts Nate off as he pulls back to look at his son. "Look at me, Natie." He lifts his eyes and Daryl wipes them. "It's okay. Obviously, it's not the best thing in the world, but it could be a lot worse."

"Dad, I got a girl pregnant and it's not even like how it used to be. At least there was adoption agency and-

"Nate," Daryl says sharply. "Tell me you're not thinking about anything beside keeping this baby." Nate looks at his dad.

"Dad, I'm nineteen."

"I know you are, Nate, and I know you're scared, but it's going to be okay."

"How?" Nate cries.

"Nate, I know... I know you think this is the worst thing that could have happened, but it's not. Not even close. Did you know your mom and I weren't married when we had you? You were an accident." Nate wipes his eyes and looks at his dad. "We never planned to have you, it just... sort of happened. It was..." Daryl sighs. "Your mom had just been a one night stand."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I never- we never wanted you to know because we felt ashamed by it. You saw us happy, but it took us a long time to get to what you remember us being. Yeah the world's different and it's going to be harder to have this baby, but at least you both love each other." Nate swallows and looks over at Amy. "You need to work this out together, Nate. Cricket and I, we'll be here for you, but no matter how hard this is going to be I need you to promise me something." Nate looks back at his dad.

"What?"

"Promise me that no matter how hard this gets that you stick to it. You stick by Amy and that baby." Nate nods.

"I will."

"I'm not mad at you, Nate. You don't need to worry. Sure I'm not happy, but I'm not mad. You made a mistake and you're going to have to live with that now, but I know you can. You and Amy both can deal with this. You're both stronger than you think." Nate nods as Daryl kisses his forehead. "Now, wipe your tears away and take a deep breath. You still have to tell Andrea." Nate swallows and nods as he takes a shaky breath in and wipes his eyes away.

Daryl stands up and Nate follows him. "Thanks dad... You always know what to say." Daryl smiles at Nate as Nate wraps his arms around his dad. "I don't know what I would do without you." Daryl wraps his arms around his son and kisses his temple before hugging him tighter.

"It'll be okay, Nate. We'll make this work." Nate nods as they pull away. "I'm going to talk to Cricket, but I want you to tell Andrea, okay?" Nate nods as Daryl heads the door. Nate turns to Amy and kneels down beside her.

"Amy?" He shakes her awake slightly, causing her to open her eyes.

"Nate?"

"I just told my dad."

"Is he mad?" Nate shakes his head.

"No." Nate sighs in relief. "He's not mad." Amy knew Nate was most scared of his dad being angry or disappointed. "We have to tell Andrea."

"She's going to be mad." Amy says, causing Nate to look at her.

"I know, but she needs to know." Amy nods and pulls back the covers before standing up.

"Nate?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we still okay?" Nate smiles at her and nods, causing her to sigh and wrap her arms around him. "Good, I can't do this alone and I want this baby, Nate. I really do." Nate nods and wraps his arms around her.

"I know you do. We'll make this work, Amy. I promise." Amy looks up at Nate and kisses him as the door opens.

"You want to fill me in now?" Amy and Nate pull away to see Andrea standing there.

"Andrea..." Amy trails off not knowing what to say as she looks at Nate. Nate steps out of Amy's arms and walks towards Andrea.

"Andrea, Amy's pregnant." The next thing that happens is one that causes shock through out the room.

A loud slap fills the air as Andrea slaps Nate across the face so hard that he stumbles back.

* * *

AN: This chapter was so hard to write. I literally felt everything Nate was when writing this. I was crying too. Poor Nate and Amy have their hands full. Tell me what you guys think so and sorry for spamming chapters I just have been having this burst of ideas and don't want to stop writing, so I hope you guys like it. I'll do one more chapter and then I'm done for the day.


	13. Twelve

Nate stumbles back, his hand going to his now red cheek. "Andrea!" Amy snaps as she goes to Nate's side and looks at his cheek.

"You got my little sister pregnant!" Andrea yells.

"Andrea, calm down." Amy snaps as she looks at her.

"Calm down?! You want me to calm down! You're pregnant. You're seventeen years old, Amy! You can't be a mother!" Amy looks at Andrea and walked up to her.

"Well I am, Andrea and either you can accept that or leave because I'm keeping this baby, I'm raising it with Nate, and we're going to be a family."

"Nate-

"I don't care what you think, Andrea. I. Do. Not. Care. I love Nate and I love this baby and we're keeping it. If you can't accept any of that then leave because we don't want someone as toxic as you near our baby when it's born." Nate looks towards the doorway where he sees Maggie, Daryl, and Cricket standing.

Andrea stares at Amy in shock. "I'm your sister."

"I don't care."

"Amy-

"All my life you've been deciding what is good for me and what isn't, while you get to make whatever decisions for yourself without even caring what I think."

"Amy-

"The way I see it is I am no longer listening to you not since you were so willing to leave me in this world by killing yourself." The room has gone deadly silent at Amy's words.

"You don't understand-

"What I understand is that you were being selfish, again. You didn't care that you were leaving me to deal with this on my own and you know what, Andrea. Since getting away from you and being independent, I actually feel like I can breathe for once. I feel like I can breathe because you aren't suffocating me anymore. It's time for me to be selfish for once and make my own choices and I'm choosing to be with Nate and raise this baby and if you don't like my decision then get over yourself because it's not changing." Andrea doesn't say anything as she shakes her head at Amy and storms out of the room. Amy lets out a breath as Nate walks over to her.

Maggie takes it as a sign and to leave, which she does, and it leaves Daryl, Cricket, and Nate with Amy. "You okay?" Nate asks as he stands in front of her now. She looks up at him and sees the red mark on his cheek. She raises her hand and brushes it, causing him to flinch.

"Are you?"

"I'm fine." Amy nods and leans up, kissing Nate's cheek.

"So am I." She looks up at him and smiles. "I'm better than okay." Nate laughs as he pushes her hair off her shoulders.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, something about sticking up for myself seems to really make me feel good." He chuckled before leaning down and kissing her.

"Well, I'm happy you're feeling better." She smiles before walking closer to him and wrapping her arms around him. Nate wraps his arms around her and buries his face into her hair, releasing a tired sigh.

Cricket grabs Daryl's arm and motions him to follow her out. "Let them get some rest, Daryl."

Nate leads Amy to the bed and the two crawl in and crawl into each other's arms before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

AN: Short chapter, but I hope you don't mind. Amy has finally faced Andrea and told her everything she wanted to say. She has grown since book one and now is an independent woman. I hope you enjoyed this. This will be the last chapter for today, so hope to see your reviews and I will update tomorrow.


	14. Author Note

Okay, so I have been debating some things. First off I'd like to say that Amy is indeed pregnant, but I have yet to decide if I want Lori to end up pregnant. So I want you guys to tell me, should Lori be pregnant too? Let me know and I will put the next chapter up tomorrow.


	15. Thirteen

AN: Basically just smut. Just warning you

Cricket sighs as she finishes put everything in the tent. She's sharing a tent with Daryl, while Nate is sharing a tent with Amy, which makes all four happy because they like to have privacy. Cricket blows her hair out of her face as she looks at everything in the tent. It isn't much, but it looks like a little nice home for them. "Cricket?" Cricket smiles as she the soft kisses being placed on her neck. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just how much the world changed that I've come to think this," She motions to the tent and the the things in it. "looks like an actual home." Daryl frowns and wraps his arms around her, pulling her to his chest.

"Isn't the saying, home is where the heart is?" Cricket smiles as she leans against Daryl, placing her hands on his arms that locked around her.

"Then I guess I'm home." Daryl smiles as he kisses her neck again. She moans, moving her neck to give more access.

"I never got thank you for before." Daryl says gruffly.

"Oh, well, you better make up for then." She smiles as he turns her to face him before laying her down on their sleeping bags, which they put together to make a nice little looks up at him as he stares down at her. "What?" She giggles upon seeing him staring.

"I'm thinking about Nate and Amy." He whispers, causing Cricket to sit up and place a hand on his cheek.

"They'll be okay, Daryl, they're strong." She says to him.

"I was mostly thinking about..." Daryl trails off.

"What?"

"Cricket," He looks at her. "I'm going to be a grandfather." Cricket smiles at him and places both hands on his face.

"Yes you are, Mr. Dixon." He growls as he pushes her down onto the ground and ravishes her with kisses, causing her to moan and pull at his shirt, which causes Daryl to freeze. "Daryl?" He looks at her and she sighs. "I told you already, Daryl. I don't care." She slowly unbuttons his shirt. "You've been through something horrible that I can never relate to, but I need you to know that you can trust me. I would never ever judge you."

"I know, Cricket." He whispers as she pushes his shirt off his arms and let it fall to the ground.

"Turn around."

"Cricket." His voice is filled with pain, but she shakes her head.

"Turn around, Daryl." He stares at her for a long moment. "Now, Daryl." He huff and turns his back to her. He freezes as he feels her give his scars gentle kisses. "You're not broken, Daryl, you're strong." She whispers against his skin. "Please don't be afraid to show yourself to me." She kisses them all over before pulling away. "I won't judge you ever, Daryl." Suddenly Daryl is kissing her, kissing her with that mind blowing kiss that only he can give her. No other man has ever made Cricket like this especially through just a kiss alone. She feels sparks and heat running up and down her body as her body hums with energy. His kiss makes her toes curl, her body quiver, and her moan loud and needy. "Oh, god, Daryl, I need you." She moans as he kisses down her neck before pulling her shirt off her and continuing his trail of kisses. "Fuck, Daryl." she gives a choked moan as he throws her bra off and takes a perky breast into his mouth. "Uh, Daryl." She groans. "I need you, please." He ignores her and touches her more by sucking her breast and biting her nipple, causing her breath to become shallow and shaky. He takes a nice rosey nipple into his mouth and bites it, causing her to gasp as he twirls his tongue over it, easing the pain from it. Daryl has come to know that Cricket likes having sex rough, but also gentle along with it, so Daryl bites, but then licks where he bites in a sweet gesture.

"Am I making you feel good, Annabell." He whispers.

"Yes, god, yes." She moans, causing him to smile before repeating his early process to the other breasts. Her nails bite into his shoulders as he lets her breast and nipple go before kissing her down her stomach before pausing. "What?" She asks, he stares up at her.

"Just trying to imagine you pregnant." A deep blush spread over her face.

"Daryl?"

"It's nothing... just thinking."

"Did... Do you want another baby?" His eyes meet hers and she can see it clearly in his eyes. He wants what his son is going to have. He wants to have another baby, but this time with his beloved Cricket. "Daryl, hun, I don't think the group can handle more than one woman pregnant... it'll put too much strain on the group." Daryl nods, but Cricket can see the disappointment in his eyes. "Daryl, honey, look at me." She lifts his chin and he looks up at her. "I promise, once we find somewhere safe then we can try to have another baby, okay? This place isn't perminate and I want somewhere that is more so. Once we find that place then we can try, okay? We have to think of its safety and the group safety. I know you want one, but it'll be in too much danger and I don't want our baby getting hurt or worst." Daryl nods in understanding before returning to his task. "You're not upset are you?"

"No, Annie, I'm not upset. I'm happy you want to have a child with me." Cricket smiles at the nickname and nods.

"Of course I do." She tells him. "It's crazy, but I'm so happy the world went to hell. If it hadn't... I might have never met you and I don't really know how I could live without you." He looks up at in surprise.

"Really?" She smiles.

"Yes, Daryl. You can be a very hard person to handle and some days I really just want to shoot you, but I really can't imagine being here without you." He smiles before unbuttoning her pants. She snorts at seeing him so determined to get her pants off despite them talking so often. She strips her of her jeans leaving her in nothing, but lacy panties that leave none to imagine.

"Oh, god." Daryl chokes out seeing her panties, which are a pale pink, which looks great against her complexion, and they are completely see through and doesn't cover much. She smirks as she sees how much her panties affect him. One of her friends had bought these and others for her at her eighteenth birthday party. Her dad was none too happy with that friend, but her friend begged her to keep them because her friend was already married, they got married after high school, and she wanted to live through Cricket. God, if only Christine could see her now, a redneck kneeling down before her and drooling at the sight of her. Christine would have loved Daryl. She would have called him some name that she would come up with. She was inspired by Grey's Anatomy and determine the find her own Mr whatever in every guy. Her husband is Mr. McPerfect. Cricket doesn't know what Christine would have called Daryl, but Cricket does miss her.

Her thoughts don't stay long on the missing of her friend before a large moan escapes her lips upon feeling Daryl warm lips on her burning heat. "Lay down, Annie." Oh, god, Cricket loves Daryl calling her that. All her life she has been called Cricket, her father's good luck cricket, but hearing Daryl call her Annie causes her blood to boil.

She lays down and moans, throwing her head back, as Daryl begins sucking on her clit. "Oh god." She moans as he bites it. "You keep that up and I won't last long."

"That's what I'm hoping for." He rumbles as his amazing tongue begins to explore her even more, sucking, licking, biting everything his perfect mouth can consume. "Fuck, Daryl!" He covers her mouth with her hand as she screams, cumming straight into Daryl's awaiting mouth. She pants as Daryl keeps going. "Daryl?" He continues and continues getting two more orgasms out of her leaving her barely able to breathe.

"Did I make up for what you did to me?" He asks with a smug grin.

"Huh?" She asks, staring up at him dazed, causing him to laugh and kiss her. She moans, wrapping her hand around the back of his head and pushing him closer, deepening the kiss. She can taste herself on his lips, something that surprisingly turns her on. The fact that she is so happy to taste herself on his lips, causing Daryl to become hard in an instant.

"We're not done, Annie." Daryl says gruffly, pulling his jeans off and then his boxers. His massive cock stands up proudly, causing Cricket to stare at it in awe. It's not the first time she has seen it, but goddamn it's impressive.

"I like when you call me Annie." She suddenly says, causing him to smirk.

"Get on your hand and knees." Cricket complies all too happy knowing Daryl wants to try more positions. They only really tried one and Cricket want to try them all. Daryl pushes into her, causing her to moan. From this angle Daryl finds her G spot really quickly.

"Fuck." She moans as he keeps hitting it and hitting it. She moves lower, deepening the angle, suddenly Daryl stopped. "Daryl?" She groans.

"Beg." She freezes. Was he serious?

"What?"

"Beg."

"Daryl-

"If you want me to continue then beg for it." Daryl was torturing her and there was no way in hell that she was going to just let him stop. Desperate to get him moving she moves back, but his grip is like iron on her hips. "Beg... Annie." He whispers in her ear, causing her to moan.

"Daryl, please."

"You can do better than that."

"Daryl, please don't stop." She begs, but Daryl chuckles.

"You must not really want it." He starts to slide out, causing Cricket to panic.

"Daryl no." She cries, causing him to stop and wait. He wants her to beg for more. "Daryl, please, I want you to fuck me. I want you to fuck me until I can't breathe and all I will feel tomorrow is the soreness you create. Fuck me, please. I want it, rough baby." Daryl smirks and slams into her, causing her to bury her face into the pillow to make her scream as quiet as possible. He slams into her again and again, biting into her hip as he does so. She's screaming into the pillow, Daryl is making it so much better than she can imagine. Daryl keeps slamming into her again and again, grunting each time as the both of them sweat from both the work they're putting into fucking each other's brains out and from the hot air. He grunts as he goes faster and hits her with as much force and power as he can, causing her to moan and groan. His balls slap against her ass, the only noise other than each other's grunts, moans, groans, and skin slapping skin. Daryl grabs her hair, pulling, causing her to moan as he kisses her neck before biting and sucking every patch of skin on her neck.

"Hard, baby." She moans, causing him to do just that. His thrusts become more erratic and quick, which tells Cricket that he's close. She's close too. Her body is shaken, but she's holding on, waiting for Daryl to cum with her. "Baby, I want to cum with you." She whines, causing him to give a grunt for a response before slamming into her one time before feeling himself reaching his climax. He tries to pull out before he spills himself inside her, but her hand suddenly grips his hips and stop him from pulling out, forcing him to spill inside her, his semen running all along her walls.

"Cricket, I didn't have rubbers." Daryl pants.

"I know." He pauses as he looks at her. Her face is beat red, sweat covers her entire body, and she has hickeys all over her necks and breasts.

"Cricket... You could end up-

"I know, Daryl."

"But you said..."

"Let fate decide." He frowns. "Baby, don't think too much, you'll hurt yourself." He gives her a glare, causing her to laugh. "I'm kidding, now stop frowning, I don't like grumpy Daryl."

"Yeah and what do you like."

"Snuggle Daryl." She lifts the blankets for him to crawl inside beside her, which he does.

"I thought you wanted to wait until we find somewhere safe before trying." Daryl mumbles as he kisses her shoulder.

"But then I started thinking about it..." Cricket whispered, causing Daryl to frown and look at her.

"And?"

"Daryl..." She turns to face him and he can see a sadness in her eyes.

"Baby, what's wrong?" He asks.

"Before this, all happened before walkers existed..." Cricket runs her fingers through Daryl's hair on his chest. "I had been pregnant." Daryl's widden in shock. "Got knocked up by some guy, no one important. My dad was pissed."

"I can imagine."

"I ended up having a miscarriage soon after finding out I was pregnant." Daryl doesn't know what to say. "I want a baby." Daryl pulls Cricket into his arms and kiss her.

"I'm sorry, Annie. We'll have one, I promise. Just give it time. We'll find somewhere safe and we'll have one." She nods as he kisses her once more. "Close your eyes and get some sleep honey. Don't worry, just sleep." She nods as she curls up against him and drifts to sleep. Daryl stays up for a bit longer just staring at her. He hates how some guy got her pregnant before Daryl could. He hates thinking about any guys on his Annie, but most of all he hates how much pain was in her eyes when telling him about her miscarriage. Daryl sees her with Nate, she would make such a great mother and it's awful that God took that away from her. She will be a great mother.


	16. Fourteen

Daryl and Cricket walk out the next morning and are greeted with Nate's glare. "What's your problem kid?" Daryl asks gruffly as he takes a seat by their fire.

"Could you two be any louder?" Cricket's cheeks inflamed as Nate eyed the two. "We all know you two are fucking, don't need to scream it to the word."

"Watch your mouth." Daryl says, giving Nate a look. Nate frowns and looks at the fire. "What got you all pissed off other than us?" Nate sighs and looks at the flames.

"Amy keeps getting sick. The baby won't let her eat." Cricket moves and sits on the other side of Nate, rubbing his back soothingly.

"Don't worry, Nate, it'll be okay." He nods and rests his head on her shoulder as she kisses the top of his head. Daryl smiles at the scene. They look like a real family.

"I need to get back to search for Carol." Daryl says, causing Cricket to nod.

"Dad, I want to help."

"Amy needs you, Nate." Daryl tells him.

"I can watch out for Amy, Daryl." Cricket tells him. "I think it'd be best if I do it anyway. Nate's a guy and well..." Nate nods already understanding what Cricket is saying.

"Okay. We're going over a map of the property with Hershel. I'll be back soon." Daryl leans down and kisses Cricket, who kisses him back and sends a smile his way. Nate smiles.

"I'll see you after, Cricket." Nate leans down and kisses Cricket's temple before heading off with his father.

Nate and Daryl walk over as the guys crowd around Carl's car. "How long has this woman been lost?" Hershel asks.

"This'll be day three." Shane says as Maggie walks over with a map.

"County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations."

"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized." Rick says as they put rocks down to keep the map from folding in on itself. "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."

"Not you. Not today." Hershel tells Rick. "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." He looks at Shane next. "And your ankle-Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."

"Guess it's just Nate and me. I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there." Daryl says.

"I can still be useful." Shane adds. "I'll drive up the interstate, see if Carol wandered back."

"Alright, tomorrow then." Rick tells them. "We'll start doing this right."

"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives." Shane pipes up. "We need the gun training we've been promising them."

"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."

"All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..." Shane starts.

"Look, we're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that." Rick puts his gun on the hood of the car and Shane rolls his eyes before doing the same. "First things first, set camp, find Carol."

"I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to. What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how we handle that."

"You do what has to be done." Rick finally says.

"And her daughter? What do you tell her?" Maggie pipes up.

"The truth." Andrea adds.

"She's ten, Andrea." Nate says.

"I'll gather and secure all the weapons." Shane says, ignoring Nate like always. "Make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience." Hershel frowns as he thinks about it.

"Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." Rick says. Finally, Hershel nods. "Thank you."

Nate and Daryl begin heading off to get going on finding Carol.

Cricket sits by Amy, who's laying in her tent listening to Cricket's soothing voice. Sophia lays with her head in Cricket's lap as Cricket reads fairy tales by Brother Grimm. The book is something her mother used to read to her all the time and therefore she always had it on her. She finds fairy tales to be very comforting and soothing. She's reading Goldie Locks right at the moment, one of Sophia's favorites.

"Amy?" Cricket stops reading and looks down at Sophia as Amy turns her head to look at Sophia.

"Yes, Sophia?"

"Do you know what you're having?"

"No, not yet. Normally we would be able to tell about ten weeks in, but now, with this, we won't be able to tell until the baby's born."

"What are you hoping for?"

"I want a girl, but Nate wants a boy. He wants a Dixon boy." Amy teases, causing Cricket to laugh.

"Names?"

"It's too early." Amy shakes her head. "It's still so new. I don't think Nate is ready to come to such topics."

"I'm sure, given the time, he'll come to love the idea of having this baby." Amy smiles at Cricket.

"I hope so."

"He will. I know Nate."

"Cricket, we could use your help." Cricket turns to see Glenn in the doorway of the tent.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Um..." His eyes fall onto Sophia.

"Is it my mama?"

"No, Nate and Daryl are out looking. Just some issue with the water that I want Cricket's help with."

"Sure thing, Glenn. Amy keep an eye on Sophia and Sophia don't leave this tent. I don't want you running off or anything, okay?" Sophia nods and Cricket lays her down beside Amy, who wraps her arms around her, and Cricket heads out of the tent. She waits until she's a bit farther away until turning to Glenn. "What's wrong? Be truthful this time."

"Walker in the well."

"Ew."

"Yeah, probably really contaminated."

"So we have to get it out."

"That's what we need your help with. We need everybody we can get to help." Cricket had no idea what she was walking into.


	17. Another Short Author Note

AN: Okay, once again, thank you so much for your reviews. I love reviews and they inspire me to continue writing. I don't mind you guys correcting me or telling me what you don't like along with you do like because it helps me improve upon my story. To be quite honest, when I read the review about Amy's age I actually wanted to say that when I looked up how old Amy was I was actually shocked. I always figured Amy was a teenager based on how she acted. I never her to be 23 or whatever age she is, something around 23, so me making her 17 in this is basically what I feel like she actually should have been. She acted like a teenager in the show, so I made her one in my book. Also, I want to know what you guys think Amy's baby should be. A boy or a girl. I know it's really soon mainly because you won't have the baby in the series until the next book, but tell me what your thoughts are. Also, I will only be having Amy be pregnant. I don't think Lori needs to be pregnant, but I will make it so Rick finds out about Lori and Shane in some way or another. I am glad you are all enjoying the series and my characters. Basically, I traded the places of Carol for Sophia. So instead of Sophia leaving the story, it'll be Carol and the things Carol later does will either be done by Cricket or Sophia.

Also, I am trying to have all my characters interact with everyone. My goal is to get both Maggie and Glenn to be Nate's friends seeing how they are the closest people to his age other than Beth and Amy. Beth and Amy are a lot alike, so those two, of course, will later be friends. Another thing, when it comes to Lori and Shane... well I have some things I am going to do to them and it's going to be kind of mean, especially for Rick, but don't worry, you'll see what I mean in like two more chapters maybe. I'll allow you guys to try and figure out what I have planned. But for now, this is just to update you guys on my thoughts so far. The next chapter will be up hopefully within the next hour or two. I hope you're enjoying the story so far.

-Panda


	18. Fifteen

Cricket walks with Glenn towards where everyone is looking down the well. Cricket looks down it and cringes. "Ah, looks like we've got us a swimmer." Dale says as he shines the flashlight down there.

"How long do you think it's been down there?" Glenn asks as Dale moves the wood off the well all the way.

"Long enough to grow gills." Andrea jumps in to answer.

"We can't leave it in there. God knows what it's doing to the water." Lori speaks up.

"We got to get it out." Shane agrees.

"Easy. Put a bullet in its head." T-Dog says. "I'll get a rope."

"Yeah because that won't contaminate the water." Cricket says.

"Cricket's right, guys, no." Maggie says as she shakes her head.

"Why not? It's a good plan." Glenn says.

"It's a stupid plan." Andrea says. "Cricket is right. If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing its brains out will finish the job."

"They're right. Can't risk it." Shane agrees.

"So it has to come out alive?" T-Dog asks.

"So to speak." Shane answers.

"How do we do that?" Glenn asks what they all were thinking.

One of them comes up with a plan to put dead meat on a rope and then somehow distract the walker in order to tie a rope around him, but Cricket doesn't think it will work. They try it anyway, but he's not bothering to get it. "He's not going for it." Dale says.

"He needs living, screaming, meat." Cricket tells them.

"Maybe 'cause a canned ham doesn't kick and scream when you try to eat it." T-Dog agrees.

"He's right. There's a reason the dead didn't come back to life and start raiding our cupboards."

"We need live bait." Andrea says.

"Well, I'm not volunteering." Cricket says, causing them to look at Glenn. "Aw, poor, Glenn." Cricket says in a tone of true sympathy.

They tie Glenn up and get him connected to a metal rod. Cricket feels totally awful about doing this, but Glenn did say he'd do it. "Have I mentioned that I really like your new haircut?" Glenn asks Shane. "You have a nice shaped head."

"Don't worry about it, bud." Shane says as Glenn holds out his baseball cap.

"Hold on to it for me, Cricket." Cricket smiles and takes the cap.

"Sure thing, Glenn." She places it on her head and Glenn nods.

"Looks good on you." Cricket laughs and shakes her head at the kid. "You can keep it if I get bit." Cricket's smile falls as Glenn says that.

"Hey, we're gonna get you out of here in one piece." Shane reassures.

"Don't worry, Glenn, I won't let them leave you done there or get bit." Cricket promises.

"Living piece. That living part is important." Glenn tells Shane before nodding to Cricket. "And you better keep that promise."

"I will."

Glenn gets the rope and everything in order before looking at the group. "Nice and slow, please." He tells them as they all hold onto the rope.

"We got you." Andrea reassures.

"Oh, you people are crazy." Maggie says.

"We have no other choice. Trust me I would not be doing this to Glenn if we did." Cricket says.

"You want to get it out of your well or not?" Shane asks.

"Give us an eye there, Maggie." Maggie moves and stands above the well to keep an eye on Glenn and the walker. They slower lower Glenn down as Cricket tries to think of happy thoughts for the poor kid.

"Doing okay?" Maggie asks.

"Yup, doing great." Glenn assures as they slowly lower him down.

"Little lower," Maggie says. "Little more," They lower him a little more before the well pump goes.

"Shit!" Cricket holds on to the rope as hard as she can as everyone else tries to do the same. Glenn screams as he drops some.

"Get it! Get it!" Lori yells.

"Grab it!" Dale screams as the rope burns Cricket's hands. She screams in pain but continues to hold on as much as she can. Glenn screams more as Shane dive bombs to grab the well pump and keep it from falling and dropping Glenn more. Everyone else tries to hold onto the rope and grab the extra length. Cricket's hands began to bleed heavily as the rope cuts her skin right open.

She struggles to keep her breathing even as the pain is excruciating from the rope. The rope drips in Cricket's blood as Glenn screams. "Get me out of here!" He yells as they struggle to pull Glenn up. Every one of them grabs the water pump and begins to pull, even Cricket despite her hands bleeding. As they struggle Glenn continues to scream. "Get it off! Get off! Get me out! Get me out!" Slowly they begin to pull Glenn up.

"Hold on Glenn!" Lori yells as they move back, slowly pulling the rope up.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Glenn screams as he begins to freak out fully. "Come on, you guys! Get me out!" He screams more. "Oh god! Oh god! Oh my god! Get me out of here!"

"Pull!" Lori yells.

"Pull! Pull!" Maggie screams, freaking out as Glenn freaks out more and more.

"Let's go, pull!" Andrea yells. Shane gets it and begins to pull the rope more and more as finally, Cricket has to let go because she's only making the rope more slippery with her blood. She holds her hands to her chest, tears filling her eyes as she struggles to keep her breathing even.

"Get me out! Get me out! Come on! Come on!" Glenn yells as they begin to pull him up.

"Glenn!" Lori yells.

"Pull him up!" Shane yells as Cricket tries to stop her bleeding hands.

"Pull him up! Pull him up!" T-Dog yells.

"Get me out of here!" Glenn says as he climbs out.

"Pull him up! Pull him up!" Andrea yells as they rush to pull him the rest of the way out of the well, while Cricket sits on the ground holding her hands.

"Are you okay?" Lori asks Glenn, nobody noticing Cricket yet.

"Back to the drawing board." Dale sighs as Glenn pants for breath.

"Says you." Glenn says with a smile on his face before handing the other rope to Dale. They rush to the well to see Glenn had managed to wrap the other rope around the walker like he was supposed to do in the beginning.

"Cricket?" T-Dog questions, finally noticing Cricket sitting in pain. "Shit, Cricket!" They turn and se T-Dog grabbing Cricket's hands which are shaking.

"Oh my god." Dale rushes forward and they crowd around to see the palms of Cricket's hands all torn to pieces.

"We need to get her to my dad." Maggie says as the men help Cricket to her feet and lead her to the house, while Maggie runs off to find her dad.

They lead Cricket inside where Patricia is making lunch. "What's going on?"

"Cricket cut her hands open really badly with some rope." Lori says. "She needs to get them cleaned and probably stitched."

"I can do that, go sit in the living room, I'll get the stuff, but try to keep her hands off the furniture. Cleaning blood off hard wood flooring is easy, but not so much on couches." They nod and lead Cricket to the couch and have her sit down.

"It's okay, Annabell, just breath." Dale says as he wraps an arm around his daughter. "Just breath, sweet heart." Hershel comes in with Maggie and sees Cricket shaking worst than a leaf and her hands oozing with blood.

Patricia comes in with some hydrogen peroxide, gauze and a needle and string. Patricia grabs Cricket's hands as Hershel rolls up his sleeves. "This is going to burn, Cricket, but I need you to hold still." Patricia says, causing the girl to nod. Patricia holds Cricket's hands tightly as Shane holds Cricket's wrist and Dale holds Cricket, trying to get it so she won't move too much. Patricia pours the liquid onto Cricket's hands, causing her to scream. The liquid bubbles and foams before finally settling as Cricket screams, tears running down her face.

"It's okay, Cricket, it's okay. Just breath." Dale says as Patricia dabs at the wounds to get it so it's not wet. She then moves, allowing Hershel to stitch up the wound, which makes Cricket whimper. "They're almost done." Dale says as Hershel stitches both hands up. When he's done he looks at Patricia.

"Get some wrapping, it'll stay on better than the gauze." Patricia nods as she heads off to find some ace bandages for Cricket. She comes back moments later and hands it over, while also holding a bottle of pills and some water. While Hershel wraps Cricket's hands Patricia hands Dale to pills and some water.

"It's for the pain." Dale nods as he have Cricket put them in her mouth before having her drink the glass.

"Don't try to use your hands until these wounds have healed." Hershel says.

"How about you go have her rest in one of the beds." Maggie says, but Cricket shakes her head.

"I just want to go back to my tent."

"Okay, sweetheart, okay. I'll bring you back to your tent." Dale says before helping her stand and leading her out of the house. "I just want Daryl." Dale rubs her back as he tries not to cry over the pain his daughter is going through.

"It'll be okay, Daryl will be back soon, I'm sure of it." Dale says as he leads her to her tent and lays her down inside the sleeping bag. "Close your eyes and get some sleep, Cricket. When you wake up I will make sure Daryl is with you." Cricket nods, her body still shaking from the pain, but she manages to close her eyes and drift off to sleep, mostly thanks to the pain killers.


	19. Sixteen

Daryl and Nate arrive back at camp a few hours after Cricket got hurt and they make their way to Nate's tent knowing the girls should be there, but are stopped by Dale. "What is it?" Daryl asks.

"Cricket got hurt," Daryl freezes as he hears Dale say this. "There was a walker in the well and we were trying to pull it out, she's not bit, but the rope burned her hands pretty badly. Hershel got her hands stitched and clean and she's resting right now in your tent, but she's in a lot of pain." Daryl just nods in thanks for the news before heading for his tent, while Nate heads towards his with the Cherokee Rose that Daryl and he had found to give to Sophia.

Nate walks into the tent to see Amy reading to Sophia from a book of Fairy Tales. "Hey, Sophia. My dad and I got something for you." This causes Sophia to look at him as he holds out a glass that has water and a Cherokee Rose in it. "It's a Cherokee Rose. My dad used to say that the story behind the rose is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much, 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; Asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell." Nate says. "Dad and I think this flower was blooming for your mother." Sophia cries and throws herself at Nate, who wraps his arms around her. Amy tears up as she looks at Nate.

"Thank you." Sophia cries as Nate rubs her back.

"Come lay with us." Amy whisperers. "We're just finishing Goldie Locks, it's Sophia's favorite." Nate smiles and lays down beside Amy, Sophia laying in his arms. Amy smiles and looks back at the book before continuing to read.

Daryl walks into his tent and sees Cricket all curled up with her hands bandaged. "Cricket." Cricket slowly opens her eyes and Daryl lays down beside her. "Your dad said you got hurt." Cricket nods and Daryl pulls her into his arms. "Does it hurt?" She nods against him and he can feel wet spot starting to fall on his shirt, allowing him to know that Cricket's crying. Daryl kisses Cricket's head and rubs her back in a comforting manner. "Shh." He whispers. "It's okay." She sniffles and closes her eyes, allowing herself to relax in Daryl's arms. "Can I see them?" She nods and moves back. She holds her hands out and Daryl slowly unwraps them. When he does he sees just how deep they are. "Oh geez, Cricket, you need to be more careful." Cricket sniffles as Daryl rewraps them.

"We sent Glenn down the well to get a rope around the walker to pull out, but the well pump broke and Glenn was falling. I tried holding onto the rope to prevent Glenn from falling, but it just started burning my hands until my skin just was burned off and they started bleeding." When Daryl's finished wrapping them he places a gentle kiss on each palm, causing Cricket to look up at him.

"It'll be okay, just try and get some rest, Annie. Give them time to heal." Cricket nods and snuggles back into Daryl's arms before closing her eyes and drifting back to sleep.

Daryl stays by her side, rubbing gentle and calming circles into her back, as he kisses the top of her head. When nightfall comes Nate opens the flap of the tent, causing Daryl to glance over.

"Got you two some food. How's Cricket doing?" Nate asks as he motions over to Cricket.

"She'll be okay. The wounds are stitched up, so they'll heal eventually, but she's in quite a lot of pain." Nate frowns as he looks at Cricket, still sound asleep.

"Dale said he kept checking in on her, but she could never get some sleep. Said she was too worked up and waiting for you." Daryl frowns and looks down at his Cricket. "Eventually, I guess she fell asleep, but I doubt it was an easy sleep."

"How's Amy and Sophia?"

"Sophia's really happy with what we did. I think it gave her some more hope. She's doing better though, Amy's helping her. They've been reading fairy tales all day." Nate smiles. "Amy's finally starting to be able to eat now. She hates not being able to do anything to help the rest of the group."

"She'll be able to help when she begins to get better." Nate nods.

"Yeah, that's what I told her. Plus she's helping by watching over Sophia and keeping an eye on her." Daryl nods as Nate holds out the bowls of food to Daryl. "I have to go check on Sophia and Amy, but here. Give that to Cricket when she wakes up." Daryl nods and places one of the bowls down while eating the other.

"Get some sleep, Cricket." Daryl whispers as he runs a hand through Cricket's hair. "Try and get better soon."


	20. Seventeen

Cricket winces in pain as she pulls on her jeans, trying really hard not to use the palm of her hands too much. She manages to get dressed without pulling her stitches too much, but she can already feel the pain radiating through her hands. She walks outside and heads over to where Amy and Sophia are hanging up the wet laundry. "Hey, sorry I can't help." Amy glances over and shakes her head.

"Don't be, Cricket, there's no way I'm going to let you help anyway. Daryl would have my head if he saw you working, so sit down at least and relax." Cricket laughs knowing Daryl would do just that. "Where is Daryl anyways?" Cricket sits down on the grass and crisscrosses her legs to relax and be comfortable.

"Still sleeping. Where's Nate?"

"Nate's just getting dressed and he'll be out." Cricket nods as she sees Nate coming out of his tent just then without his shirt on. His shirt is draped over his shoulder. He runs a hand through his hair as he walks over.

"Goddamn, it's hot." Amy's eyes run over Nate's chest. Nate notices Amy's staring and smirks, causing her to blush. "You look like you're heating up to." Nate says as he kisses her. "And I don't think it's because of the heat." Amy rolls her eyes and pushes him back.

"I have to hang this up and you hush your mouth. I don't want Sophia hearing anything that comes out of your mouth." Nate chuckles and kisses Amy again, pulling her into his arms and deepening the kiss. His lips move down to her neck, causing Amy to bite her lip. "Nate, I'm serious, come on." Amy says as she pushes him again slightly.

"Erg, Amy," Nate pouts. "You're such a tease."

"No, I'm working, so scram." Cricket chuckles as Nate pout.

"Cricket, she's being mean to me." Nate says as he lays down on the grass, his head in her lap. Cricket laughs and runs her fingers through his hair.

"And what do you want me to do?"

"Yell at her. You're supposed to be the mother of this group." Cricket smiles as Nate say this.

"Oh am I?"

"You're telling us you didn't already know this?" Amy teases, causing Cricket to laugh again.

"Oh, sorry, I'll have to remember that." Nate smiles before seeing her hands.

"How are your hands?" Nate asks as he takes them and looks them over.

"They hurt still, a lot actually, but they're healing." Nate nods as he kisses them, causing Cricket to smile.

"Does that help?" Cricket laughs as she looks down at the boy.

"Sure." He smiles before placing her hand on his head in order for her to continuing running her fingers through his hair, which she does and it causes Nate to close his eyes and sigh.

"You have a soothing touch." Cricket looks up at Amy. "Nate hasn't been that relax since back at the CDC." Cricket smiles as she looks down at Nate and continues to run her fingers through his hair and massage his scalp.

"What are you doing up?" Amy and Cricket look over to see Daryl heading towards them.

"I'm not doing anything, Daryl, I'm sitting." Cricket says.

"You shouldn't be up."

"My hands hurt that's it, Daryl. Plus I can't stay laying in bed all day, it'll drive me nuts. At least watching Amy do something gets me to be less board." Cricket says. "So relax, I'm fine, so shut it." Daryl gives her a look as Amy fights the erg to laugh.

"And you, you can't lie around all day." Daryl says as he kicks Nate's foot. Nate sighs and opens his eyes.

"But I'm comfy." He says, but a look from Daryl has him rolling his eyes and sitting up. "Fine, be the ruiner of fun." Amy and Cricket laugh as Daryl gives him another look.

"In case you don't remember there's still a woman lost in the woods that we need to find, so get yourself ready and let's go." Daryl says as he walks off leaving Nate feeling guilty.

"What got him all cranky?" Cricket asks as she glances at Nate. "I'll talk to him, Nate." She tells him as she stands up before kissing his temple. "Just get ready, don't get upset with him, he's just cranky."

"I know." Cricket nods before heading over to Daryl.

"Not now, Cricket."

"I don't care when you think it's good time to talk." Cricket says as she stands in front of him. "I want to talk now." Daryl rolls his eyes and huffs. "What you think you're doing talking to Nate like that."

"Cricket, we have a job to do."

"You don't think I know that. Every time I look at Sophia I'm reminded that her mother is still out there somewhere. I know you need to find her, but Nate doesn't deserve you snapping at him like that. He has a lot of stress on him right now, so don't go snapping at him when he finds a moment to relax just a little bit."

"Cricket-

"I'm not done, Daryl. Just because your grumpy does not mean you can take it out on everybody else. You can't even go in the woods yet until you talk to Rick and them, so it doesn't matter if Nate takes a moment to relax. And while we're on the subject of you being an ass, how about you don't get all bitchy at me for not wanting to spend my time in a tent all day when I know for a fact if it had been you that you would be off doing something useful instead of allowing yourself to heal." Daryl glares at Cricket.

"Yes, but you're not me, Cricket."

"No and I'm damn glad I'm not. I don't think I could handle being that big of a jerk simply because I'm grumpy." She says before turning to go, but Daryl grabs her hand, causing her to whimper in pain. Daryl lets go of her hand right away, guilt filling him up.

"Cricket, I'm sorry." Daryl says, grabbing her wrist and kissing her hand. "I forgot. I didn't mean to grab your hand and hurt you." It amazes Cricket how quickly Daryl's mood can change. She looks up at his big blue eyes. "I know you hate being hurt and you want to do things to help the group out, but can you please promise me that you won't go doing anything until you heal. Please?" She nods.

"I won't, but-

"I know you don't want to lie around day, I get it, just please try not to over do yourself. I don't want you getting hurt any more than you already are." Cricket nods and Daryl places a hand on her cheek and kisses her. "And I'm sorry about being an ass." Cricket smiles up at him as he looks down at her. "It's just..."

"You haven't found her yet." Cricket says, causing Daryl to nod. "You will though, Daryl. You're always good at finding people." Daryl nods again. "But just because your stressed doesn't mean you take it out on other people, okay?" Daryl nods again as he pushes her hair out of her face.

"I know." He says as she moves and wraps her arms around him. He wraps his arm around her kisses the top of her head. "I'm going to go talk to Rick and then head out. I will be back later." Cricket nods again as Daryl pulls away and steals another kiss as Nate starts over with his bow and knife.

"Are we going to talk to Rick now?" Nate asks.

"Yeah," Cricket gives a look to Daryl, who wraps his arm around Nate. "And I'm sorry for snapping." Nate raises a surprised eyebrow in response.

"I think I like having Cricket around, she gets you to apologize." Daryl glares at Nate before pushing him back.

"Forget I even said anything."

"Nope, stored and saved in my mind." Nate says, causing Daryl to flip him off and Cricket to giggle. "Thanks Cricket." Nate kisses her cheek. "I'll see you later, don't do anything today, but relax." She rolls her eyes as Nate smiles and heads off with Daryl. Cricket shakes her head and starts back towards Amy with a smile. Her boys are a handful, but she really can't be without either of them.


	21. Eighteen

Amy looks up to see Lori walking out of her tent and heading over. "I can't believe I slept in." She tells her.

"You must have needed it." Amy smiles as Sophia hands her another pair of pants. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You are pregnant after all." Amy frowns at Lori's tone of voice.

"Fine, I'll wake you next time." Amy snaps right back.

"It's laundry day." Lori says as she grabs another shirt. "Wake me next time."

"Just because you woke up late doesn't mean you take it out on Amy, Lori. You only have yourself to blame." Cricket says to her. Lori glares at Cricket as Amy grabs another shirt from Sophia.

"We had an idea we wanted to run by you." Amy says after a long awkward moment.

"And what's that?" Lori asks.

"Um... well... they have that big kitchen of theirs and it got me thinking." Amy says. "I wouldn't mind cooking in a real kitchen again. I used to help my parents all the time. After high school, I was actually going to go to school for culinary arts."

"Yeah, Amy and I were talking about us all pitching in and cooking dinner for Hershel and his family tonight." Cricket says.

"Sophia wants to help too. She wants to keep her mind occupied." Amy adds.

"After everything they've done for us seems like the least we could do." Lori says.

"You mind extending the invitation?" Amy asks. "Would just feel more right coming from you."

"How so?" Lori asks.

"You're Rick's wife." Cricket jumps into say.

"Yeah, it sort of makes you our unofficial first lady." Amy agrees.

"Morning, guys. Let's get going." Rick tells everyone as he walks with Shane. "We've got a lot of ground to cover." Amy watches the men go to the truck with the map along with Andrea.

"Alright, everyone's getting new search grids today." Rick tells the small group. "If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far."

"I'd like to help." Nate looks up to see one of Hershel's members standing there.

"I know the area pretty well and stuff. Plus I'm the same age as him and he gets to go." The kid points at Nate.

"Yeah, but I got my father's permission." Nate points out. "Does Hershel know you're volunteering for this?"

"Yeah. Yeah. He said I should ask you." Nate frowns as the kid says this. Nate thinks he's lying, but he chooses to ignore it as he focuses on the map.

"Alright then. Thanks." Rick nods to the kid.

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Carol to me." Shane says, causing Nate to roll his eyes. "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea asks. "It's a good lead."

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." Rick says.

"No maybe about it. I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's eye view of the whole grid." Daryl says. "If she's up there, I'll spot her."

"Is Nate going with you?" Rick asks.

"I think it's best if two trackers in opposite directions." Nate says. "I'll cover this lower section."

"Good idea." T-Dog nods. "Best to have two set of trained eyes." Before smiling. "Maybe, Daryl will see his chupacabra up there too."

"Chupacabra?" Rick asks, causing Nate to laugh.

"You never heard this?" Nate asks, causing his father to give him a look.

"Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him or the time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra." Dale says as he hands the guns off to the guys, while the kid laughs.

"What are you braying at, Jackass."

"You believe in a blood sucking dog?" Rick asks.

"Don't get him started please." Nate says.

"Do you believe dead people walking around?" The kid reaches for a gun, but Rick stops him.

"Hey. Hey. Ever fire one before?" Rick asks.

"Well, if I'm going out, I want one." Nate rolls his eyes.

"You could easily end up shooting yourself."

"Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees." Daryl says, causing Nate to laugh.

"Why don't you come train tomorrow?" Shane asks. "If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor."

"For now he can come with us." Andrea says.

"He's yours to babysit then." Nate rolls his eyes before he heads off to the woods.

Nate heads back from his searching and begins to look for everyone, but he finds none of the girls are around. "Hey, kid, where is everyone?" Nate asks the kid from before.

"Kitchen, they're cooking dinner for Hershel and us." Nate frowns and looks at the house.

"You know if Amy is in there?"

"Yeah, she-

"Thanks." Nate says as he brushes him off and heads to the house.

He walks inside to find all the girls working inside the kitchen. Amy turns and sees Nate leaning against the doorway and heads over to him. "Hey, hon."

"Hey, Amy. What you all up to?"

"Cooking Hershel and his family dinner." She smiles. Nate smiles as he looks behind her at Sophia who is busy with cutting up the vegetables.

"I can see that." Amy smiles.

"She's cute isn't she?" Amy asks.

"Yeah." Nate smiles as Amy glances back at him.

"You think we can do this?" Nate raises his hand and runs his thumb across her cheek.

"Yeah, Amy, we can." He leans down and kisses her. "I gotta get cleaned up, but I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure."

"Where's Cricket?"

"She's getting her hands rebandaged by Patricia." Nate nods before heading out.

"Walker! Walker!" Nate looks up as he hears Andrea shouting.

"Shit." Nate hurries over to where the rest of the men are.

"Just the one?" Rick asks.

"I bet I can nail it from here." Nate rolls his eyes.

"Don't, Andrea. We should check it out first." Nate tells her.

"No, no, Andrea, Nate's right, put the gun down." Rick says.

"You'd best let us handle this." Shane says as he heads over with T-Dog.

"Shane, hold up. Hershel wants to deal with walkers." Rick tells him, causing Nate to look between the two leaders. He agrees they should just kill the walker, but he also agree with Rick that it's Hershel's farm and they shouldn't mess with anything to get them kicked off the farm, at least not while Amy's pregnant.

"What for, man? We got it covered." Shane says as he and T-Dog head off for the walker. Nate looks at Rick before shrugging.

"What else can we do, Rick, but make sure they don't get themselves killed."

"Damnit." Rick says before grabbing his gun and heading off with Nate and the others.

The five of them run out only to find it isn't a walker, but Daryl. "Is that Daryl?" Glenn asks.

"That's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head." Nate feels as if he can breathe again as he realizes his dad isn't a walker.

"Goddamn it, dad." Nate grumbles. "You scared the crap out of me."

"You gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl asks, causing Rick to sigh and put the gun down just as a gunshot goes off.

"Dad!"


	22. Nineteen

Nate rushes to his father's side. "Dad!" Rick and the others yell.

"No! No!" Nate's shaking as he looks at his father.

"He's okay Nate, the bullet skimmed him, but we need to get him to Hershel." Rick says as he and Shane help Daryl get up off the ground.

"I was kidding." Daryl says as Nate struggles to breathe.

"Come on." Rick says as Andrea and Dale rushes out.

"Breath, Nate, breath," Glenn says, sitting in front of Nate.  
"Daryl is okay."

"Oh my god." Andrea says. Glenn and T-Dog move quickly, grabbing Nate before he gets a hold of Andrea.

"What the fuck did you do!" Nate yells at her.

"Nate, calm down." T-Dog says.

"Is he dead?" Andrea asks.

"Unconscious. You just grazed him." Rick tells her.

"You're lucky or I would have killed you." Nate snarls.

"Yeah, I'm sure Amy would love that." Andrea says. Nate tries to get at her again, but T-Dog wraps his arms around Nate's stomach and pulls Nate towards him.

"Andrea shut the fuck up!" T-Dog yells. "Or Nate's going to kill you."

"What the hell happened? Look at him." Glenn says as they drag Daryl towards the house.

"You good now?" T-Dog asks.

"Just keep the bitch away from me." Nate snaps. "Or I will kill her."

"He's wearing ears." Glenn points out.

"Let's keep that to ourselves." Rick says as he rips them off and hides them.

"Guys, isn't this Sophia's?" T-Dog asks, causing them to look at him.

"Carol was holding it for her." Nate says. "Sophia told me. Sophia went to help Cricket and Carol was holding the doll for her. She must have had it when she ran off."

Cricket sat beside Daryl, trying not to freak out. She's running her fingers through Daryl's hair as Nate leans against the wall staring at his dad with emotionless eyes. "I found it washed up on the creek bed right there." Daryl says as he turns on his side to let Hershel stitch it up. "Must have dropped it crossing there somewhere." Cricket picks up the ice packet and places it on his injured side of his head.

"Cuts the grid almost in half." Rick says as he faces Shane.

"Yeah, you're welcome." Daryl says.

"How's he looking?" Cricket asks in a quiet tone.

"I had no idea we'd be going through the antibiotics so quickly." Hershel says as he finishes stitching him up. "Any idea what happened to my horse?"

"Yeah, the one who almost killed me? If it's smart, it left the country."

"We call that one Nelly, as in Nervous Nelly." Hershel says as he washes his hands off before drying them. "I could have told you she'd throw you if you'd bothered to ask. It's a wonder you people have survived this long." Daryl lays on his back as Cricket runs her fingers through his hair again.

They leave the room, leaving only Nate and Cricket in the room with Daryl. Nate goes to leave, but Daryl catches his wrist. "Where are you going?" Nate doesn't answer. "Come here." Nate moves and sits on his dad's bed. "I'm okay, kid." Daryl whispers as Nate looks at him with scared eyes.

"I..." Daryl pulls Nate down and Nate lays down beside his father.

"I'm okay, kiddo. I'm okay." Daryl runs a hand through Nate's hair, causing him to close his eyes. Cricket looks at Daryl with a worried look. "Come here." Cricket lays down on the other side of Daryl, resting her head on his chest. "You both don't need to worry, I'm okay." He can feel the tears running down Cricket's cheeks and onto his stomach.

"I'm going to go check on Amy." Nate whispers, taking the cue to leave.

"Annie?" Daryl whispers once Nate is gone.

"I thought I was going to lose you when I saw them dragging you to the house." Daryl kisses her forehead.

"You're not going to lose me, darling. I'm not going anywhere." Cricket tries to stop her tears. "Afterall, I have to be around to one day have that kid with you that I promised." He meant to lighten the mood, but it only made Cricket burst into tears. "Oh, Cricket." Daryl sighs as he wraps his arms around her. "Don't cry."

"I can't lose you, Daryl. I can't." Daryl kisses her temple and holds her close to him.

"You're not going to, Annie. I promise. I am going to be wrong as long as you want me."

"Is Cricket joining us?" Maggie asks.

"She's with my dad." Nate tells them.

"It's best if you leave them." Amy agrees. "Nate and I will bring some food up to them after." They nod as they begin to get food.

"Can I sit with you?" Sophia asks, causing Nate to nod as she climbs into his lap. He moves her plate closer to them in order for her to eat.

They sat at a small table with Amy, Sophia, Maggie, Glenn, the kid who he found out was named Jimmy, and Maggie's sister Beth. "You're good with her." Maggie says, causing Nate to look at her.

"Uh, yeah... I always wanted a younger sibling, but," He shrugs. "I ended up being an only child." Other than the teenagers talking no one else did, making the dinner rather awkward. Even the teenagers felt awkward when talking, causing them to fall back into the silence of things.

"Does anybody know how to play guitar?" Glenn asks. "Dale found a cool one. Somebody's got to know how to play." Nate is beginning to feel awkward as no one says anything to the poor awkward Glenn.

"Otis did." Patricia says, causing Glenn to shoot a look at Nate, who mouths 'you dug yourself that one.' Glenn gives him a look that says 'you're not helpful'. Nate rolls his eyes.

"Yes, and he was very good too." Hershel tells them. Glenn eyes fall to his plate, causing Nate to feel bad for the kid, so he spoke up.

"I know how to play." All eyes fall on Nate, causing him to rub the back of his head. "I used to work in a music shop, the owner taught me."

"Maybe you could teach me." Glenn says, causing Nate to shrug before the awkward silence fell again.

Daryl runs his fingers through Cricket's hair as she sleeps peacefully beside him. A knock on the door, causes him to glance over to see Nate. "Got some food for you both. Is Cricket asleep?" Daryl nods as Nate hands a plate of food off to him. Daryl slowly sits up, trying not to wake up Cricket, and begins to eat what's on the plate. "How you feeling?"

"Like shit." Nate smiles as he sits down in a seat by the bed.

"You look it." Daryl rolls his eyes, a small smile working its way on his face.

"Do you love her?" Nate suddenly says, causing Daryl's to shoot towards him.

"What?"

"Do you love her?" Nate motions to Cricket. Daryl shifts uncomfortably.

"Nate,"

"I was just wondering." Nate shrugs. "It's nothing, just forget it." Daryl sighs and looks down at Cricket.

"Yeah." Nate glances over at his dad. "Yeah, kid, I think I do." Nate smiles slightly as he looks at Cricket.

"Have you told her?"

"Nate what got you asking such things?" Nate shrugs and looks down at his hands.

"Mom died when I was very little. I barely remember her or what it was like when she was here. You always talk about how it was like a real family, but I can't remember." Daryl frowns as he takes his son's hand. "I guess I just wanted to know if Cricket's going to be apart of our family now and if we can have what real families have." Daryl sighs as he places his plate on the table beside the bed.

"Come here, kid." Nate moves and lays down beside Daryl. "I can't promise you things are going to be as great as when your mom was around, but I can promise I'll try and make things work in that favor." Nate nods as Daryl kisses his forehead. "How about you go get some sleep, okay? I'll see you in the morning." Nate nods before he gets up and heads out. Daryl sighs and picks his plate back up before he begins to eat again.

"Did you mean what you said?" Daryl freezes and looks down to see Cricket staring up at him.

"You're supposed to be sleeping." Cricket shrugs and leans her head on his stomach, drawing patterns there.

"Did you though?" Daryl rolls his eyes.

"What is up with the both of you wanting to know my feelings?"

"You just don't talk about them, so how are we supposed to know them without asking." Daryl rolls his eyes and doesn't say anything else as he goes back to eating. Cricket sighs and sits up, grabbing the plate that is for her and begins to eat, sitting further from Daryl then needed.

Daryl notices her sitting further away, causing him to frown before wrapping an arm around her and pulling her towards him. "Daryl." She says, trying to make sure she doesn't tip her plate. Daryl begins to kiss down her neck, causing her to sigh and close her eyes.

"I love you."


	23. Twenty

Cricket struggles with carrying the two plates, causing Nate to take them. "You don't have to-

"I got it, Cricket." Nate smiles at her as the two walk to the tent.

"Thanks for helping."

"Well, the way I figure is that you have two burned hands and my dad isn't allowed to leave the tent, so that doesn't really give you any leeway. I, of course, already told you I'd bring food to you and everything as long as you stayed in bed, but-

"There are things that need to be done, Nate, I can't-

"Oh, yes you can, Cricket. The guys are all taking care of the tracking of Carol, with the manly chores around here, and the women are handling everything else just fine."

"You mean a pregnant Amy, a little girl, Carl, and Lori are handling everything else. They could use the help-

"And they'll get it from Hershel's family if they really need it, but so far they are fine Cricket. They'll manage without you, in the sense, of course, with the chores. We still need your smile and optimism around." Cricket sighs, unable to smile at Nate's sweet words as they reach the tent.

"Thank you, Nate. I got it from here. You go on ahead and take care of your own girl." Nate smiles before handing the plates over and walking off. Cricket walks into the tent and frowns as she sees Daryl poking holes into the screen. "Daryl Dixon, if you poke another hole I'll start poking holes into you." Daryl glances at her rolls his eyes and proceeds the poke another hole. "Daryl." She growls before placing the plates down, just barely able to without spilling anything, and stealing his bolt.

"Annie-

"Don't Annie me, Dixon. You are not getting these back until you learn to use them wisely."

"Cricket." He growls.

"Hush." She snaps, grabbing the plate and handing it over to him. "Just shut up, eat your breakfast and be good." Daryl continues to scowl at her. "Keep that up and you won't be getting dessert anytime soon." Daryl raises an eyebrow as Cricket says that, but she just smiles and grabs her own plate, wincing as her hand hit the plate.

"Careful, let me." Daryl winces as he moves and grabs the plate, gently setting it on Cricket's lap.

"We're two of a kind, aren't we, Daryl? With your side hurting and my hands hurting." Daryl chuckles before lifting her hands and kissing the palm. He moves his kisses up her wrist, then her arm, then up to her shoulder. "Hey, you have to eat breakfast before dessert, remember?"

"Shut up." Daryl's voice is thick and needing, causing Cricket to bit her lip.

"Hershel doesn't want-

"I don't care what Hershel wants." He moves, placing his plate on the ground out of the way, before grabbing her face and kissing her.

"Mm, Daryl, I don't want you to over work yourself." Daryl snorts as she says that, kissing her neck.

"Over work my ass." She rolls her eyes.

"How romantic." She mumbles, causing Daryl to chuckle before kissing her neck some more. "Hon, come on, I don't need any more marks, I have plent- ow. Daryl." She whines as he bites and sucks her neck. Daryl pulls back with a grin as she rolls her eyes. "Bite me again and I'll-" He kisses her, succeeding on shutting her up. She moans as Daryl slips his tongue into her mouth, his hand traveling up her shirt. "Daryl." She pants, already begging for more.

She moves her hand to his crotch, causing him to groan. "Annie." He moans against her lips as his fingers find the edge of her bra. He moves his lips back to her neck, causing her to move her head, giving him a better access.

Daryl is about to lift Cricket's shirt over her head when a voice calls out. "Hey," They pull apart, both still red face and breathing heavily. Daryl moves and lays back on his bed, his plate in his lap once more. Cricket fights back a smile as she rubs her swollen lips and begins to eat her breakfast. "This is not that great, but..." Cricket and Daryl glance over to see Andrea standing there with a book in her hand.

Daryl takes and looks through it before glancing at Andrea. "What, no pictures?" Cricket smiles as she runs a her fingers over his arm.

"I'm so sorry. I feel like shit." Andrea says, causing Cricket's smile to fall.

"Yeah, you and me both." Daryl says as he puts the book down and takes Cricket's hand in his.

"I don't expect you to forgive me, but if there's anything I can do..." Cricket keeps her mouth shut as she focuses on Daryl's calloused hand, running her thumb over it.

"You were trying to protect the group. We're good." Daryl says as his eyes fall to Cricket's soothing hand. Andrea nods before getting up and heading for the exit. "But, hey, shoot me again, and you'd best pray I'm dead." Andrea just smiles and walks away.

"Better kill me if that's the case, I'd most likely kill her myself." Daryl snorts and looks at Cricket.

"Let it go, Annie."

"But-

"Cricket." She sighs and rolls her eyes. "Come on, hon." He pulls her towards him and wraps his arm around her. She sighs and rests her head on his chest. "Remember what I told you?"

"Yeah, yeah, but sometimes you aren't always in control."

"I'm not going anywhere, Annie." She sighs and nods, kissing his chest, causing him to smile. He runs his fingers through her hair and sigh. "I promise."


	24. Twenty One

AN: So, I've been thinking of ways to go about this, but I've settled on this. I hope you guys like it. Some of you might not, while others might. Either way, tell me what you think. :)

* * *

Nate walks with Amy done towards the cars. "You sure you want to do this? I mean, this can wait. You are like a month or two preg-

"I want to, Nate. I'm tired of depending on everyone else to keep me safe. I need to be able to protect our baby and myself on my own."

"You don't have to, though, Amy. I'm here to protect you and our child."

"But what if you weren't."

"Amy-

"You could be out hunting with your dad or looking for Carol or, I don't know, be gone off somewhere and a walker could come."

"Well, the other members of the camp-

"Nate," Amy places a hand on Nate's chest. "I know you think you're protecting me by trying to get me to not learn how to shoot, but you're doing more harm than good. I understand you're worried about me, but this is something I need to learn. The world isn't like it used to be. I'm not some teenage girl in high school anymore. I'm living in a world where you have to fight to survive. I need to learn how to defend myself." Nate sighs and rests his forehead against Amy's.

"I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't, not with you training me." Nate opens his eyes and looks at Amy before sighing. She wasn't going to be suade by him or anyone else.

"Fine, but we're starting off small." With Nate's father still recovering, Nate takes his father's bike with Amy, up to the place they were going to shoot.

They have bottles lined up and everyone was firing. Nate stood behind Amy as she shot. "Here," Nate stops her from shooting and places his hands on her hips before kicking her legs apart. "Don't be so tight." He whispers in her ear as he rubs her rips before going to her shoulders and rubbing them. "Relax. Take a deep breath." He kisses her temple before stepping back. "Now try again." Amy takes a deep breath before firing. The bullet hits the bottle directly.

Amy goes to hug Nate, but he catches her hand. "Safety off first, Amy or you'll blow our heads off." Amy blushes as Nate clicks the safety on. "And I don't think that would really benefit either of us." Amy blushes even more as she looks up at Nate.

"Thanks, Nate." He nods as he kisses her quickly. Nate glances over as Amy's sister holds up her gun, everyone has gone silent as they watch Andrea. She fires the gun and the can goes flying.

"I'd say she got the hang of it." Rick says.

"I'd say she's ready for the advanced class." Shane says, causing Amy to frown.

"Try again." Nate whispers, causing Amy to nod. She takes another deep breath before rasing her gun and firing at another bottle. She fires and the bottle shatters into a million pieces. "Again." Amy tries again, doing the same thing as before. She takes a deep breath, aims, and fires. Another bottle shatters. One after another before Amy finally puts the safety on and wraps her arms around Nate. Nate chuckles and wraps an arm around her.

"Thank you."

"No problem," Nate says. "You're a natural." Nate smiles as he takes her hand. "How about we head back. You're pretty good at this so far. We can practice more later." Amy nods as she allows him to lead her back to the motorcycle as others begin to make their way back to camp.

Nate hops on and Amy hops on behind him. "I'm surprised your dad lets you drive his bike." Nate chuckles.

"I never really asked."

"Your dad's going to kill you."

"He's been resting all day in his tent, he's not going to know. It's like I plan on ruining it." Amy rolls her eyes as Nate starts the bike.

"So much for being daddy's good little boy." She whispers in his ear, causing Nate to smile.

"You can blame that on yourself." Nate says, causing Amy to raise an eyebrow. "You may act all innocent, but you are far from it." Nate begins to drive the bike back down to the farm as Amy holds onto him.

As they ride back Amy's eyes begin to fall shut before she drifts off to sleep. Nate glances back and smiles as he sees she's asleep. He tightens her arms around him to make sure she stays on before driving faster in order to get back quicker.

* * *

Cricket sits out by the firepits later that day. Her hands are still wrapped, but she's healing up nicely. Hershel had came early to rewrap them and to look at them.

She looks up as Rick walks out of his tent, pale face. "Rick, you okay?" She asks.

"I-It's Lori." Cricket gets up and looks at him.

"What about Lori?"

"Have you seen her?" Cricket frowns and looks down at the bottle that's in his hands.

"Oh my god." She breaths out. The bottle is for aborting a baby.

"Cricket." Rick croaks, causing her to shake her head.

"I saw her go down by the fence. I came with if you want?" Rick nods and the two head off after Lori. They see her standing by the fence looking nervous.

"Lori." She turns and sees them standing there. "Please tell me you didn't." Lori frowns as she looks at Cricket.

"What do you mean?" Rick holds up the pills, causing Lori to glare at Cricket. "What are you doing here, Cricket, shouldn't this be a family matter?"

"Yeah, it should have been since the beginning, but Rick only found out when he found these pills. Tell us that you puked them out." Lori crosses her arms.

"I-I took them an hour ago." Rick shakes his head, tears in his eyes.

"Why Lor?" Rick asks, tears in his eyes. "Why would you do this? To our baby?! Without even telling me." Cricket shakes her head, a disgusted look on her face as she looks at Lori. "How long have you known?" Rick demands.

"What does it matter?"

"Days? Weeks? And you didn't tell me? You didn't tell me you were pregnant!" Rick yells.

"I'm telling you now." Lori says.

"No! No, I found out because you left this behind!" Rick yells, throwing the pills at her feet. "I found out after you already killed our baby!" Rick shakes his head as he walks up to her. "So, Glenn knows. Instead of going to me, you sent him to get pills?"

"I panicked." Lori says, but Cricket knows that's not the truth. If Lori even a little bit wanted that baby then she would have thrown those pills up. She wouldn't have taken them and that look of satisfaction in her eyes tells Cricket just how proud the bitch is. "You tell me we have no roof and no walls-

"Do not put this on me!" Rick yells. "You tear into me for keeping secrets when you're holding onto this?"

"You want me to bring a baby into this?" Lori yells. "To live a short, cruel life?"

"How can you think like that?"

"We can't even protect the son we already have."

"So this is the solution? To kill our baby?"

"Rick, I panicked."

"Yeah, you did, and now our baby is gone. There's no way you can throw them up now.

"I screwed up. I don't know how we do this." Lori starts to cry, but Cricket can see it's fake. Lori is manipulating Rick, trying to get him to forgive her.

"I don't understand why." Rick says after a long moment of the two thinking. "Why not tell me?" Cricket knows Lori won't say. She can see Lori already thinking up a lie. Rick has a right to know.

"Lori, tell him the truth." Lori turns on Cricket.

"You stay out of this!"

"Tell me what? What's the truth?!" Rick demand.

"Nothing." Lori shakes her head.

"Don't give me that! What's the truth that you ain't telling me?!"

"It might not be yours." Rick face crumbles. He stares at Lori in shock, disbelief, and even more anger.

"What?"

"It might not have been yours."

"Whose then?" Rick demands.

"Rick-

"Who's baby is it then?!"

"Shane." Rick stares at Lori in shock.

"Shane." He whispers.

"It was when I thought you were dead." Lori explains.

"Because Shane told you that. I was 'dead' for only a month, two at the most, Lori!"

"I made a mistake."

"Yeah, so I've been hearing." Rick says. "You've been making a lot of mistakes."

"Rick-

"Save it, Lori. I can't- I can't do this anymore. This back and forth with you. We've been fighting since before this all happened and we're still fighting after it! I- I can't. This- This is the final straw. You've went to far this time."

"No, Rick, please, I can fix this. We can make this work." Lori begs.

"You slept with my best friend, killed either mine or Shane's baby, lied to me, and you expect that we can still make this work?" Lori looks from Cricket to Rick.

"What are we going to tell Carl?"

"The truth when he's old enough."

"He'll hate me."

"Not my problem."

"No, that isn't something you can live with. You can hate me all you want, but I know you couldn't live with Carl hating me."

"He doesn't have to know." They both turn to Cricket. "I'll talk to him. Tell him things aren't good between you. Blame this world give him the speech about how people grow apart and sometimes couples can't handle certain situations together."

"Thank you." Rick whispers. Lori stares at Rick in shock.

"You want Cricket to tell our son? She has no right being-

"She has more right than you!" Rick yells. "She has been a good friend for me. Been there to help when I needed it. She has done more than you have." Lori shakes her head.

"Is that it then?" Rick looks at her once more before walking away. "You're just going to walk away!" Rick keeps walking. "Rick!"


	25. Twenty Two

AN: First off, I want to say I do not regret what occurred during the last chapter. I don't know about any of you, but I hate Lori. I understand the apocalyptic life isn't easy and that Rick was thought to be dead, but if you really think about the possible time span of Rick being in the hospital I'd say it was like a month, two at the latest, that he was in there for. Two months is not long enough for Lori to grieve and move on. If I had been her I wouldn't jump in the sack with the first person who asks, I'd be more focus on my son and crying myself to sleep over the lost of my husband. That's just the main thing I hate about Lori. There are plenty of other things that make her a unlikable character. So, no, I do not regret what I did the last chapter and I hope you guys enjoyed ruining Lori as much as I did and I hope you enjoy this new chapter. :)

* * *

Cricket didn't enjoy telling Carl what she had to, but she knew she needed to, so she pulled him side one morning and sat with him to talk. "Hey, Carl, how you doing?" Carl shrugs as he looks at her.

"Okay, I guess."

"Do you like it here?" She asks him.

"Yeah, it's very nice. I love all the animals and the open space." Cricket nods as she looks at carl, she's kneeling down on the ground f so she can be eye level with him.

"I like it too." She tells him, causing him to smile. "Can I talk to you about something, Carl?"

"What is it?" Carl asks.

"It's about your mom and dad." Carl stares at her for a moment before looking at his feet

"Something's wrong, isn't there?"

"I'm sorry, buddy. I know it's hard to hear, but-

"They're going to do what my friend's parents did, aren't they?"

"What do you mean?"

"My friend Tyler's parents got a divorce. He got to see his mom on weekends and live with his dad on the weekdays."

"Well, this is a little different Carl."

"Because the world is over?"

"Yeah, buddy, because the world is over or rather it has changed."

"How is it going to be different?"

"Well, your parents, they've just grown apart over the time they were away from each other. This world changes people and they aren't the same people they were before this. That doesn't make them love each other any less or you any less, but they can't be together anymore because it doesn't feel the same anymore and to them, it doesn't feel right for either of them or you to go along and act like everything is still the same. We will all be apart of the same group, but your parents won't be together together anymore." Carl nods as he stares at the ground. "What are your thoughts, Carl?" He looks at her, showing big watery blue eyes. Cricket sighs and pulls him into her arms. "Oh, I know it's hard, buddy, but it doesn't affect you. They still will be your parents and love you, okay, sweetie?" He nods as she rubs his back. "Can you be a big strong boy for me?" He nods and pulls back. "Think of it this way, they'll feel bad, so you can get away with more." She says, causing him to smile. "Hey, what's that?" He frowns and looks around them.

"What?"

"Is that a bug?" He glances over himself. "The tickling bug?"

"No... Cric-" She grabs him and begins to tickle him, causing him to laugh and squirm.

"I'm sorry what was that?" She asks as she continues to tickle him.

"C-C-Cricket." He giggles as she blows raspberries on his stomach. "Cricket." He giggles loudly as she tickles him all over, his hat falling to the ground. She eases up on her tickle, not wanting to rip open his stitches or hurt him, while he's still healing.

"How about you go on and get some breakfast and remember what I said, what happens between them won't affect how they feel about you." Carl giggles as he nods before heading off to camp to get some breakfast. She finds Nate leaning against a nearby tree. "Hey, Nate, didn't know you were there."

"That's nice what you did for him back there. Getting him to laugh." Cricket nods as the two head down to camp.

"Yeah, I just don't want him getting upset."

"What really happened between his parents?" Cricket sighs and looks back at him.

"Nate... What happened is between them, if they want people to know then they'll tell people, but for now... let's just get some breakfast, okay?" Nate nods and the two head off for the camp.

Cricket grabs a plate for herself and for Daryl before walking over and sliding down onto his lap. Daryl wraps his arms around her and pulls her towards him, placing a gentle kiss behind her ear before he begins to eat.

Cricket looks over and sees Carl sitting beside his father and Sophia, while Lori sits beside Shane. Cricket forces herself not to comment and returns back to her meal. "How's your hands doing?" Daryl whispers, causing Cricket to look at him.

"Better. Hershel says they should be mostly healed in another day or two." Daryl nods as he grabs her hands and places a soft kiss to them.

"Good." She smiles and kisses his cheek, causing his cheeks to glow pink.

"Um, guys." Cricket pulls her eyes away from Daryl and over to Glenn who's standing before them, looking very nervous and weary. "So..." Cricket frowns as Glenn trails off, looking almost frightened to speak. "The barn is full of walkers." Cricket stops smiling in an instant, her face as pale as a sheet of paper. Sophia moves quickly to Daryl and Cricket's side. Cricket wraps a protective arm around the young girl.

"It's okay." Cricket whispers in her ear, causing Sophia to relax a little. Everyone around them has grown tense as they stare at Glenn in total shock.

They all quickly put away their food and follow Glenn to the barn. Shane looks in the cracks of it as everyone stands farther from the barn together.

Cricket stands beside Daryl with Sophia protectively in front of her, her arms around the young girl, while Nate stands on his father's other side with Amy closely by his side. Shane moves back and turns towards them. "You cannot tell me you're all right with this."

"No, I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land." Rick tells them.

"Oh, god. This is our lives!" Shane yells.

"Lower your voice." Glenn orders.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea tells them. Cricket agrees with her, but she also agrees with Rick. It's not their call.

"It ain't right. Not remotely." T-Dog joins in to say.

"Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go." Shane says, causing Nate to look at Amy with worry. "Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"We can't just do that, Shane." Cricket says. "Carol is still missing, Daryl and Carl is still injured, and Amy's pregnant."

"Yeah, my mama's still out there." Sophia says, causing Shane to fight back a laugh, holding his hands to his face as if trying to grab some patience.

"Okay." Shane sighs and drops his hands. "Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility." Cricket stares at Shane in total shock as Sophia tears up.

"What the hell man." Nate snaps as he scoops Sophia into his arms.

"Shane." Cricket says in anger.

"You can't just go saying that to her." Nate snaps as he rubs Sophia's back to calm her down.

"We're not leaving Carol behind." Rick says.

"I'm close to finding her." Daryl speaks up. "I just found Sophia's damn doll two days ago."

"You found her daughter's doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll." Nate clenches his teeth, just wanting to hit Shane again.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about." Daryl barks as he lets go of Cricket's hand and moves forward. Cricket casts Rick a worried look, but Rick simply holds out an arm, so that Daryl doesn't go to far.

"Alright, alright." Rick says.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said." Shane barks. "Alright, you get us good leads, it's in the first forty-eight hours-

"Shane!" Rick says, trying to get him to shut up.

"Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction." Cricket looks at Nate confused, but Nate just rolls his eyes.

"Shut up!" Daryl goes at Shane, but Rick moves between them.

"Alright!" Rick yells. Shane and Daryl try to fight around them, causing Rick to yell again. "Hey, hey!" T-Dog and Glenn move in to help Rick break up the fight.

"Oh, god." Cricket sighs, closing her eyes and trying to take a moment to breathe. The whole group helps break up the fight.

"Back off!" Rick yells.

"Keep your hands off me!" Shane yells at Lori as he hits her hand of him before walking away from her.

"Now just let me talk to Hershel." Rick orders them. "Let me figure it out."

"What are you gonna figure out?!" Shane yells.

"Enough!" Lori yells as she pushes Shane back, afraid he'd go and punch Rick next.

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land."

"Hershel sees those things in there as people-" Dale starts, causing Cricket to look at her father. "Sick people. his wife, his stepson."

"You knew?" Rick asks.

"Yesterday. I talked to Hershel.

"And you waited the night?" Shane asks in outrage.

"I thought we could survive one more night." Dale snaps at him. "We did." He looks at Rick once more. "I was waiting until this morning to say something, but Glenn wanting to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or no!" Cricket jumps as she hears the walkers banging on the doors, trying to get out.

"Cricket." Sophia cries, causing Cricket to take her from Nate and hold her in her arms.

"It's okay, Sophia, it's okay." Cricket looks to Daryl, who looks towards her. Fear is in both their eyes.


	26. Twenty Three

Cricket sits in the tent, holding her face in her hands as Daryl walks in. "Annie?" She looks up at him, tears in her eyes. Daryl sighs and moves to kneel before her. "Are you okay?" She shakes her head, causing him to pull her into his arms. "It's going to be okay, Cricket."

"I'm scared."

"I know you are, but it'll be okay." He promises as he pulls her onto his lap. She wraps her arms tightly around him and grips his shirt in her hands. "Everything will be okay, Cricket."

"What if we don't find, Carol?" Daryl pulls back.

"Don't tell me you're giving up now too."

"I'm not giving up, Daryl, but I'm scared. We got a barn full of walkers and a little girl who just wants her mother. It's..." cricket swallows. "It's been a long time since we've seen Carol." Daryl moves her off his lap and gets up. "Daryl, where are you going?"

"To look for Carol seeing how everyone is ready to just give up on her."

"You can't, you're still injured."

"You're right. It's been days since she disappeared and she could easily be out there hurt. The more time I sit here waiting to be healed the less of a chance that she's okay."

"Daryl, you can't go out there when you're still hurting." Cricket places a hand on his chest, but he moves away.

"Watch me." He says in soft, but cold tone before storming out of the tent.

"Daryl." She growls as she runs to catch up with him. "Don't you dare go out looking for her." Daryl turns to her with fury in his eyes.

"Just because I'm fucking you don't make me your bitch." She stares at him, her heart stopped mid-beat, staring at him with shock and hurt in her eyes. He turns and heads towards the stable. Cricket lets him go, tears filling her eyes.

"Cricket?" Nate walks over, having seen the fight. "Are you okay?" She looks at him, tears rolling down her face. His face hardens. "Go lay back down. I'll deal with him."

"Nate-

"Go, Cricket." She goes and heads back to the tent as Nate heads off to catch up with his father.

He walks into the stable to see his father throw the saddle on a stand, grunting as it pulls on his stitches. "Dad, you can't go out there." Daryl glares at Nate.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not dad. You are still healing." Nate says as he heads to one of the horses.

"Go back and worry about Amy."

"Like you do with Cricket."

"Stay out of it." Daryl growls.

"You made a promise to me awhile ago, dad. You promised me you wouldn't keep pushing people away."

"I'm not pushing people away." Daryl snaps.

"That's exactly what you're doing." Nate pushes his father back, causing Daryl to look at him with anger. "You're pushing away anyone who gives a damn about you!"

"You watch your mouth, boy, I'm your father!"

"What if I don't? Are you going to hit me? Be like your father." His words cause Daryl to flinch. "Go ahead dad! Break my ribs! Punch my face in! Do whatever it takes to get your anger out, but I'm not going anywhere and neither are you!"

"Nate-

"You can't can you? You can say the most horrible things to people, but I know you would never raise your hand to your children or to your woman. You're not Will Dixon, dad. You're not your father. You can go around saying you don't deserve to be loved, but we both know that's bullshit. It's not that you think you don't deserve love it's that you're scared of it. You're scared of Cricket. You're scared of how you feel about her, what you think of her, what she makes you want. You want a family with her, a life with her, you never wanted that with my mother."

"Nate-

"It terrifies you. Every day she gets past another wall of yours and every day your defenses are weakened and it scares the shit out of you and we both know why."

"Nate-

"You love her and that makes you just want to push her away. You say the most horrible things to her because you want her to leave you so that you don't have to deal with the emotions that you don't understand."

"Don't talk about things you don't understand."

"Oh, I understand perfectly dad. I always have. I've been by your side for nineteen years, dad. I know exactly how you are." Daryl looks away from him. "We don't know if we'll find Carol, dad. We all know that there is a huge chance that she's gone."

"Don't you dare-

"You have done so much, dad. You've done what no one else would do. You went out looking for her every single day. You got yourself hurt for her. You have done so much, more than most. Just let it go, dad. Just allow yourself to heal up. Let Rick and the others take over. Stop pushing Cricket away and stop hurting her. She loves you, dad, and trust me it's crazy to imagine, but she does. She cares about you and she loves you. Are you seriously going to push her away, hurt her just to make her hate you, you do that and you will turn into Will, dad. You'll turn into the man you hate. All that man had was anger and hatred for the world. Do you really want to be just like him? I've seen you with Cricket, she makes you happy, happier than I have ever seen you been. So, go ahead and throw that away if you want, but you'll just be screwing your life over just like your father did." Daryl doesn't say anything. He looks at his son with no emotion on his face. "Are you going to say anything, dad?"

"It's not that easy." Daryl says.

"It's easy, dad. You either chose to be happy or you chose to throw everything you care about away." Daryl looks at Nate before sighing.

"Go back to Amy."

"Dad-

"I'm not going out, Nate." Nate nods before grabbing the saddle and bringing it back to where it belongs.

"Go talk to Cricket." Nate orders before making his way back to camp.

Daryl watches Nate walk back before running a hand through his hair. He lets out a heavy breath as he heads out of the stable and makes his way to camp. His eyes can the area, but doesn't find Cricket. When his eyes meet his son's, Nate looks towards Daryl's tent. Daryl nods and makes his way towards the tent.

He walks in and finds Cricket laying down with her back to the door. "Cricket." She doesn't answer. Daryl kicks his boots off and moves to lay down beside her. "I'm sorry, Cricket." He slowly, cautiously, wraps an arm around her and pulls her to his chest. His heart aches as he hears her soft sob. "I'm sorry for everything I've said, Cricket. What I said was horrible and it wasn't right." He whispers. "I know you're just looking after me. I know you care and I'm not used to that. I've never had anyone, but my son that actually cared about me enough not to let me go and get myself killed." Cricket doesn't say anything. "I love you, Cricket and it scares me. It scares me more than you can ever imagine." She turns and looks at him and he looks back at her. "I'm sorry, Annie, I really am." She wraps her arms around him and snuggle up against him.

"Just hold me." He nods and wraps his arms around her. He kisses her temple and rubs her back.

"I'm here, baby, I'm here." She closes her eyes and lets out a sigh.

"I love you, Daryl."


	27. Twenty Four

Daryl laid with Cricket for a while before running a hand through his hair. "How about you and I go check on Sophia. Have you seen lately?"

"She was with Amy last time I heard." Cricket says, rubbing her eyes.

"Come on, let's go check on everyone." Cricket nods and stands up and follows Daryl out of the tent.

They walked over to find almost everyone chilling out on the front porch. The only people not here is Shane, Dale, and Rick. "We were supposed to leave a couple hours ago." Andrea is telling Glenn.

"Yeah, you were." Daryl says, causing Cricket to squeeze his hand. "What the hell?"

"Rick told us he was going out." Amy says.

"Damn it! Isn't anybody taking this seriously?" Daryl asks as Cricket looks up at him with worry in her eyes. She didn't want Daryl to get upset again. "We got us a damn trail." He says as they see Shane coming towards them. "Oh, here we go." Cricket frowns as she sees Shane walking with the bag of guns. She squeezes Daryl's hand, slightly freighted with the possibility of what this means. "What's all this?" Daryl asks.

"You with me, man?" Cricket looks up at Daryl, her eyes begging for him to stay out of whatever Shane is about to do. Daryl looks at Cricket and gives her a look that Cricket knows is the look that says he has to.

"Yeah." He takes the gun from Shane as Shane holds out a gun to Cricket.

Cricket pulls away from Daryl and heads to the deck, ignoring Shane. "Time to grow up." Shane says as Cricket sits down beside Amy.

"What's going on?" Amy whispers.

"I don't know." Cricket tells her. "But whatever it is I have a very bad feeling it is about to bed bad."

"You already got yours?" Shane asks Andrea.

"Yeah. Where's Dale?" She asks.

"He's on his way." Shane says. Daryl looks at Cricket.

"Thought we couldn't carry." T-Dog tells Shane.

"Well, we can and we have to." He turns to the people on the porch. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't."

"Oh no." Cricket whispers as Sophia climbs into her lap. "It's okay."

"How about you, man? You gonna protect yours?" Shane asks Glenn as he holds out a gun to him. Glenn looks at Maggie before taking the gun. "That's it." He looks at Maggie next. "Can you shoot?"

"Can you stop? You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight." Maggie tells him.

"We have to stay, Shane." Carl says as he stands behind Amy.

"What is this?" Lori asks as she heads over.

"We ain't going anywhere, okay?" Shane says. "Now, look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He's-Well, he's gonna have to."

"It's not our farm, Shane, we can't do this." Nate says. "This ain't Rick's orders. Rick's is in charge, not you."

"Now we need to find Carol. Am I right?" Shane asks, ignoring everything Nate says.

"As if you care." All eyes turn to Sophia. "You have wanted to move on the second after my mama ran off."

"I do care." Shane says. "Now, Carl, you take this, you take this and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes." Nate glares at Shane as he hands the boy a pistol.

"Shane-" Shane gives Nate a glare.

"I ain't talking to you, I'm talking to Carl." He turns back to Carl. "You know how to. Go on, take the gun and do it."

"Nate's right, Rick said no guns. This is not your call." Lori says as she pushes Carl back. "This is not your decision to make."

"Oh shit." They all turn to see Jimmy and Rick leading out two walkers.

"Cricket." Cricket wraps her arms around Sophia and stands up, little Sophia wrapping her legs around Cricket's waist as she does.

"What is that?" Shane questions before taking off running for them.

"Hey, wait! Hey!" Lori yells as they all run for the barn. Cricket groans and starts after them with Sophia. Nate takes Sophia from her and the two hurry up after the others.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shane demands as he runs through the gate and towards them.

"Shane, just back off." Rick orders.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel demands.

"Are you kidding me? You see? You see what they're holding onto?"

"I see who I'm holding onto." Hershel barks.

"No, man, you don't." Shane barks right back.

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk." Rick orders.

"What you want to talk about, Rick?" Shane demands. "These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead! Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed everyone we cared about! They killed Otis! They're gonna kill all of us!"

"Shane, shut up!" Rick yells.

"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something. Could a living, breathing person, could they walk away from this?"

"No!" Rick yells as Shane shoots the walker into the stomach, causing Sophia to scream.

"Shh, it's okay, Soph, it's okay." Nate whispers, trying desperately to calm the little girl down.

"Wow." Glenn says.

"Stop it!" Rick orders.

"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still coming?" He shoots two more times. "That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?" He fires two more times.

"Shane, enough!" Rick yells.

"Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough." He walks towards the worker and shoots it's brains out. Cricket gasps and as Sophia turns and looks.

No one says anything as they watch the walker fall. Sophia slips down to the ground and stands watching."

"Enough risking our lives for a woman who's gone!" Shane yells as he walks to the barn. "Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us! Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now!"

"Take the snare pole!" Rick demands of Hershel as Shane runs to the barn. "Hershel, take the snare pole. Hershel, listen to me, man, please. Take it now. Hershel! Take it!" Shane begins to break the door down. "No, Shane! Do not do this, brother! Wait!"

"Don't do it!" Glenn yells.

"Shane!" Rick yells. "Please!"

"Come on! Come on, we're out here!" Shane yells as he gets all the locks offs.

"This is not the way! Please!"

"Come on!" Shane says as he holds up his gun. Sophia clings to Nate as Amy clings to the other side of Nate. Cricket pulls them away, allowing Nate to get his gun out. They wrap their arms around Cricket as she watches, shaking worst than a leaf.

The walkers come out and Andrea runs to stand on the other side of Shane. T-Dog follows her lead. The three begin to shoot down the walkers. Soon everyone is joining in, shooting the walkers with perfect shots. Maggie gives Glenn the okay and he starts firing. Cricket fights back tears as she watches the men.

"Stay back!" Rick yells to Carl as they watch the walkers go down one by one.

The Greenes cry as they watch the people they love die without being able to do a thing about it. When the last walker falls it is dead silent. They stare at the bodies, so many emotions going through everyone. Shane looks back at them with nothing but evil in his eyes. Sophia sniffles as she looks at the destruction. They hear another growl causing everyone to look at the barn. They watch as Carol walks out.

"Mom!" Sophia runs forward.

"Dad, Sophia!" Daryl manages to catch Sophia before she can run to her walker mother.

"Mom!" Sophia cries as Daryl holds the little girl in his arms. "Mama! Mama!" Nate swallows back his emotions as he steps forward with his gun. He raises it, but Rick places a hand on his shoulder.

"You shouldn't have to do this." Rick whispers as he steps forward. He raises his own gun and fires as Sophia burst into tears. Cricket falls to her knees, tears running down her face as Amy breaks into heart-wrenching sobs. This isn't just a walker. It was their friend and now... now she's gone.


End file.
